Week two!

July 5th, 2010

Well, I have completed week two. I spent some time familiarizing myself with GMT and making some topographic maps (I am pretty comfortable with it now). Once equipped with GMT, I started looking at magnetic field ship track data from the National Geophysical Data Center. I wrote a script and made my first plot of a residual magnetic field along the ship track. A small but exciting triumph! (I will try to upload it once I’ve made a bit cuter.)

I also met with Dr. Kohler to discuss my reading and ask questions. I am battling through the terminology and picking up some geology along the way. There is just so much to learn! The paper I’m currently reading (in case you were interested: “Geophysical evidence for the evolution of the California Inner Continental Borderland as a metamorphic core complex”) is particularly interesting because it looks at both offshore and onshore seismic and gravity data centered on the Los Angeles Basin. Although still fairly close to shore, this paper does address some offshore data collection and analysis in an area we will be working in. I think it gives some nice background.

As for this upcoming week, I plan to continue looking at magnetic field data to get a better idea of what the area’s residual field looks like and improve the quality of my plots. As always, I will keep on reading.

Oh and on the fun side of the spectrum, I ventured back into LA, saw Rodeo Drive, and then went to fireworks at the Rose Bowl.  Awesome!