Översikt

  • Theme 1: water resources


    Introduction to the course

    You can download the introduction ppt from the file below:

    Introduction ppt


    Theme lecture

    The theme lecture is available at the following web-page:

    Prezi on water resources (opens in a new window)


    Hands-on training

    For each hands-on training, we will provide you with a demo script to be used with data that was delivered with the pre-assignment. We will go through the demo script step by step during the hands-on sessions. The demo script contains few tasks marked with # TODO, which you can try filling in. We will provide model answers to all tasks after the demo session in another script.

    In the beginning of the first hands-on session, we will fetch the first demo script together. For future reference, the videos below illustrate how to update course material and what you will need to know about working directories.

    Please note that the correct name of the course directory is wpcourse2022 and the cyan identifier named “master” has been changed to “main” in Git. Furthermore, the data has already been delivered with the pre-assignment, so only demo1_water_resources.Rmd should come by pulling.

    Video: updating course material by pulling changes

    Video: working directories

    Written instructions on how to update course material are given below.

    1. Open your project from the wpcourse2022.Rproj file
    2. In RStudio, select Tools -> Shell


    3. Verify that the shell is in the wpcourse2022 folder. In Aalto VDI, the current directory of the shell is highlighted in yellow. If there's a cyan (main) tag after the path, the shell is in the correct directory. Changing directories can be done with the command cd path/to/directory.


    4. Commit any previous work according to the instructions in this video (note that the video is from 2021). The working tree should be clean as shown below. The output before the working tree can be "Your branch is XXX commits ahead of 'origin/master'" but that is expected and nothing special needs to be done for it.


    5. Type git pull into the shell and press enter.
    6. The shell pulls the changes from the version control system to your folder wpcourse2022.
    7. If you pull again, you should get "Already up to date." which means that you're good to go.


    Home assignment

    1. Discover global / regional runoff and precipitation patterns

    Instructions:

    1. please select a research question below or develop your own (preferred!)
    2. produce one A4/A3 page with following structure: a) title; b) research question and short introduction; c) maps, graphs, etc of the results with captions d) interpretation of the results
    3. you can get help to possible problems by a) searching from internet: there are many people with similar problems; b) posting question to the R Q&A channel in Teams; c) coming to Thursday workshop, or d) asking us or your fellow students directly
    4. once you are happy with the end result, please submit the work (see below Submission)


    This weeks illustration type: maps; include at least one map to the home assignment! See example charts under 'Visualisation guides and examples' -tab 

    Example research questions:

    • Variability: How much does runoff/precipitation/temperature vary over a year by grid cells / large river basins (monthly data is available)?
    • Past trends: How much have runoff/precipitation/temperature changed over the past decades (data for three time steps since 1960-1979 is available)?
    • How large percentage of precipitation is turned to runoff? Please note that precipitation and runoff come from different sources
    • Countries of extremes - in which countries the a) difference of precipitation, b) difference of temperature, c) difference of runoff, and/or d) seasonal variability of runoff are greatest?
    • Impact of climate change - from the data folder you can find global monthly precipitation and temperature under two climate change scenarios (year 2050).

    Example submission: from this link you can find an example submission (please note, the time series plot comes only next week and thus, it is encouraged to include only maps to this week's home assignment). 

    Submission: please submit the assignment by using the submission icon below. Submission is due on following Monday from the lecture. If you submit the assignment late, you'll get only half of the points. The submission will be closed completely two weeks after the lecture, after which you are not able to submit the assignment. 

    2. Select the geographical area of your final presentation

    Instructions: by using the selection tool below [the one with question mark], please choose the large river basin on which your individual final presentation will be concentrated on. Only one student per river basin is allowed. EDIT: several students can choose same basin. If you are particularly interested in one river basin and it is taken, you can negotiate with the other student whether she or he is able to change. More information about the actual final presentation will be give within the second lecture.


    Thursday workshop

    Before Thu workshop, please test that Adobe Illustrator works well with VDI computer you are using. Instructions for using Illustrator can be found under 'Adobe Illustrator use via VDI' -tab on the left.

    On Thursdays we have a workshop (see Schedule for location) in where you can get help on the home assignment. During the workshop we'll give a short lecture on Adobe Illustrator to show how you can use it to enhance your vector graphs and make them visually appealing. 

    Here is the short video on how you can use Illustrator in the case of raster maps:

    Illustrator video part 1 (recorded year 2021; this year's recording in Teams)


    • Home assignment #1 - water resources Inlämningsuppgift

      Please submit the first assignment here; detail instructions are in the MyCourses page.

      Please remember: submission is due on Monday 25.4. at 23:55. If you submit the assingment late, you'll get only half of the points. The submission will be closed completely a week after DL, after which you are not able to submit the assignment. 

      Before submission, please check:

      • your home assignment fits to one page
      • the format of the submission is pdf
      • assignment includes at least one map (this week illustration theme is maps)

    • Selection of geographical area of your final presentation Opinionsmätning
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Theme 2: Population dynamics