Reading for Lab #1 on Mon., Jan 24:
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Introduction to EES 3310/5310 Labs
Overview of EES 3310/5310 Labs
The laboratories in this course are computational. My goals for the laboratory section are:
- Learn about best practices for reproducible research and get experience applying tools and methods for making sure that your research is reliable, reproducible, and trustworthy. We will focus on research about climate science and climate and energy policy, but the methods and tools we will use are widely used in all kinds of research in natural and social sciences and also in the private sector.
- Get experience working with real data: download and analyze data and report the results of your analysis.
- Get experience working with computer models of different aspects of the climate system. Learn how to use models to do science, how to analyze and interpret the results of model simulations, and how to write reports about research using computational models.
General Policies
- There will be two web resources for each lab:
- Documentation that describes the lab and tells you what you need to do to prepare and what you will do in the lab class.
- An assignment that provides a template you will use in carrying out the lab and writing it up. The assignment will consist of a web link for you to click on to accept the assignment in GitHub Classroom. After you accept the assignment, GitHub Classroom will copy the assignment into your own GitHub Classroom account. You will then clone the assignment from GitHub to your own computer or a computer in the lab classroom to work on it.
- Before coming to lab:
- Be sure to read the documentation for that week’s lab.
- Accept the assignment on GitHub Classroom (click on the Assignment link in the course web site). If you will be bringing your own computer to the lab, you may want to clone the assignment onto your own computer before you come to lab, but that’s not strictly necessary. If you will be using one of the computers in the lab classroom, you can clone the assignment when you log in at the beginning of class.
- In the first lab, on January 24, Mr. Belanger will explain all of the different software we will be using and will walk you through all the steps of using Git to work with your assignments.
Schedule for the Semester
The semester is divided roughly in half.
First Half of the Semester:
In the first half, the readings, class sessions, and laboratories will focus on understanding the science of how the earth’s climate system works and how human perturbations to the environment may affect the climate.
The weekly labs during the first half of the semester will initiially focus on exercises from the book Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast and then from March 14–28 you will work on using the reproducible research methods to write up a polished report from one of the previous labs, and this report will be due before you come to lab on April 4.
Second Half of the Semester
Starting on April 4, you will shift gears and apply the tools you have learned to analyzing policy. Specifically, you will analyze data on the economies and energy use of different countries around the world and use these to compare different policy options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The labs will begin with exercises that follow the analyses you will be reading about in the book, The Climate Fix, and then you will perform a detailed analysis of policy options for a country of your choice to make a transition to a cleaner energy supply.
You will write up a formal report on the country you choose, which will be due on May 1. The last two lab sessions on Apri. 19 and 26 will be informal times for you to work on this report and ask questions from Prof. Gilligan and Mr. Belanger.
Computer Laboratory
The lab will met in the computer classroom in Wilson Hall. The software we will need has been installed in the computers in that classroom, and you are also encouraged to bring your own laptop if you wish to work on it instead during the lab periods.
All of the software we will be using is free and open source, and it runs on Windows, MacOS, and Linux, so no matter what kind of computer you have, you will be able to do the lab work.
Software Tools
We will use four principal software tools for this class. All four are free and available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Detailed instructions for downloading and installing them are available on the course web site at https://ees3310.jgilligan.org/tools/:
- R: statistical analysis software (be sure to get the latest version, 4.0.3)
- RStudio: a user-friendly interface to R, which makes it much easier to use (be sure to get the latest version, 1.4)
- Git: a tool for keeping track of revisions in computer code and documents and coordinating working together with other people on a project.
