69722 - Seismic Tomography

Learning outcomes

Goal of the course is to provide students with abilities to fit data and solve tomographic and inverse problems, with a focus on seismic tomography and Earth structure. 

 

Course contents

The tomographic problem. Inverse problems in Geophysics: what they are and how to deal with them. Bayes' theorem and probabilistic approach to solution of inverse problems: general problem, solution of linear and weakly non linear problems, optimization, Monte Carlo methods and non linear problems. Other approaches (Backus-Gilbert, Levenberg-Marquardt, Occam, Singular Value Decomposition, ...) and comparison. Seismic waves in the Earth: summary of theory and signal analysis, with relevance for seismic tomography. Workflows for solving real tomographic problems. Current developments: numerical modelling and full-waveform tomography; use of seismic noise as useful signal. Determination of large-scale Earth structure: state of the art and open issues.

Readings/Bibliography

• Tarantola A., Inverse problem theory, SIAM, 2005.
• Stein S., and M. Wysession: An introduction to Seismology, earthquakes, and Earth structure. Blackwell Publishing, 2003. 
• Aki K., and P. G. Richards: Quantitative seismology. University Science Books, 2002. 
• Lecture notes and reading suggestions posted online 

Teaching methods

Class lectures. Analysis and solution of test cases. Review of the state of the art and current problems with references to articles in scientific literature.

Assessment methods

Oral examination.

Teaching tools

Class lectures. Class notes. Suggestions for practical exercises.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Morelli