Novosibirsk State University is launching a new course,"Seismic Tomography: Look inside Earth". You can register online for the Course and start learning now. The course was developed by Ivan Kulakov, Head of the NSU Geology and Geophysics Department’s Imaging of the Earth Laboratory, together with Ufa State Petroleum Technological University. It was designed for students and specialists in the fields of geophysics, mathematics, geochemistry, geology, petrology, and engineering, as well as for anyone interested in the Earth sciences who wants to know how and why volcanic eruptions and earthquakes happen.
Kulakov talked about the Course,
With this Course, I want to destroy the stereotype that tomography is difficult and that only specialists with geophysical and mathematical educations can do it. I deliberately avoid complex formulas and terms and explain everything simply with the help of visual computer graphics created by NSU designers. Using the information provided by the Course, anyone can take available seismic data (your own or from open sources) and start an exciting journey into the Earth to study the processes that take place there. The Course includes a lot of entertaining information about the history of seismology, the evolution of knowledge about the structure of the Earth, the study of various geological objects, and tomography applications that help humans. In addition to the Course work materials, those who are interested can find a more detailed description of the algorithms, detailed video tutorials, the latest software updates, and many different sets of data for research on my website: ivan-art.com/science.
.jpg "V11tdMrUlm8 (1).jpg")
The Course consists of 35 video lectures presented in four modules that will help students develop specific practical skills. Data sets can be downloaded and students can build models in the open programs Basic Tomo, PROFIT, and LOTOS. During the lectures, students will become acquainted with the basics of geophysicist’s work such as how to install sensors or bury seismic stations. In addition, "Seismic Tomography: Look inside Earth" includes a unique module filmed on the Kamchatka volcanoes.
Lilia Styazhkina, director of the Course, described the Kamchatka module,
One of the Course modules, “Look Inside a Volcano”, was filmed in Kamchatka and this, of course, is its unique selling point. Ivan Yuryevich and his team have been studying Kamchatka volcanoes for many years so students will not only get the most relevant information first-hand, but also visit the tops of such volcanoes as Gorely, Avachinsky, and others. They will see with their own eyes unusual and interesting phenomena. For example, we were very impressed by the fumaroles, holes in the surface of a volcano that emit hot gases. They are amazing and we are thrilled participants in our Course will be able to see them.
The course "Seismic Tomography: Look inside Earth" is the fifth Novosibirsk State University English-language course on Coursera. Students are also invited to take the other courses: «Dermatology. Trip to skin», «From disease to genes and back», «MOOC: How to make a MOOC? », «Cryptography: Boolean functions and related problems». You can sign up right now by registering on the Coursera platform.
Coursera is the world's largest online learning platform. More than 70 million students from all over the world are registered on the platform and more than three million of them speak Russian. Coursera offers courses from 225 leading universities and companies around the world. Novosibirsk State University presented its first Coursera courses in natural sciences and life sciences in 2015. Currently, Coursera has 24 NSU courses that have attracted more than 150,000 students.
