July 15, 2009

Yesterday, we were again looking at the RDFS data. This time, however, we were making more specific observations. I was focused on the CORIE Development forecast system. We were instructed to write a report about how well the model predicts actual data during spring tides, neap tides, high river flow, and low river flow. After making these observations, we compated notes, and noticed that certain systems made more accurate predictions under different conditions, likely having to do with effects of mixing. It would seem that some systems predict more accurately with little mixing, and some predict more accurately with more mixing.

Today, we've been learning to use MATLAB. Nate gave us data from a forecast system, with the model and the actual data. We found the root mean square error with these data to depict how accurate the estimates were. I've also been graphing the data and learning how to do functions with MATLAB that I generally do with Microsoft Excel. I think that we will be using MATLAB more in the coming days.

I've attached two files. The first one, which says my name at the top of the page, has the observations that I made about CORIE Dev., and the second, which does not say my name, has Monica's observations of db16.