Workshop 2: October 24-28, 2011

Large-Scale Inverse Problems and Applications in the Earth Sciences

Organizers

Mike Cullen, MET Office, Exeter, UK
Melina Freitag, University of Bath, UK
Stefan Kindermann, University of Linz, Austria
Hanna Katriina Pikkarainen, Johann Radon Institute, Austria

Synopsis and Main Topics

This workshop will focus on the large inverse problems commonly arising in simulation and forecasting in the earth sciences. For example, operational weather forecasting models have between 107 and 108 degrees of freedom. Even so, these degrees of freedom represent grossly space-time averaged properties of the atmosphere. Accurate forecasts require accurate initial conditions. With recent developments in satellite data, there are between 106 and 107 observations each day. However, while these also represent space-time averaged properties, the averaging implicit in the measurements is quite different from that used in the models. In atmosphere and ocean applications, there is a physically-based model available which can be used to regularise the problem. We assume that there is a set of observations with known error characteristics available over a period of time. The basic deterministic technique is to fit a model trajectory to the observations over a period of time to within the observation error. Since the model is not perfect the model trajectory has to be corrected, which defines the data assimilation problem. The stochastic view can be expressed by using an ensemble of model trajectories, and calculating corrections to both the mean value and the spread which allow the observations to be fitted by each ensemble member. In other areas of earth science, only the structure of the model formulation itself is known and the aim is to use the past observation history to determine the unknown model parameters.

The workshop will involve experts in the theory of inverse problems together with experts working on both theoretical and practical aspects of the techniques by which large inverse problems arise in the earth sciences.