Falk Feddersen: Lectures
Introduction to Variational Data Assimilation
In May 200, I taught a lecture on variational data assimilation for Detlef Stammer's Ocean State Estimation Class at SIO. Too often the methods are presented for relatively complicated systems such as the shallow water equations or the quasi-geostrophic equations, and the essence of the method becomes obscured. The goal of the lecture was to present the method in its most basic state. To this end, I used a mass-spring oscillator as the dynamical model for the system into which data is assimilated. The simplicity of the system makes the derivation of the Euler-Lagrange equations and the error covariances straightforward, and allows an analytic (i.e. pencil and paper) understanding to devlop.To download PDF lecture notes click here.
If you have any questions or if you would like the matlab program used to generate the examples, please contact me at falk@coast.ucsd.edu.
Two Lectures on Alongshore Current Dynamics
In winter 1997, I taught two lectures on nearshore oceanography. The lectures are about the dynamics of the steady breaking-wave driven alongshore current and instabilities of the alongshore current. These lecture notes are not very polished. It is assumed that in a previous lecture, the concept of a radiation stress has already been introduced.To download PDF lecture notes (3 Meg) click here.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at falk@coast.ucsd.edu.