Uncertainty Analysis in Geophysical Inverse Problems

Description and Aim

Recent advances in computational science and applied mathematics enable us today to solve large-scale realistic inverse problems in the Earth sciences. These include weather and climate forecasting, the imaging of Earth’s internal structure using seismic and electromagnetic methods, the prediction of the seasonal variability in ocean currents, and the estimation of flow patterns in the Earth’s mantle and outer core.

The finite amount of data, the presence of noise and incomplete forward models introduce uncertainties in the inverse problem solutions that are often not properly quantified due to limited computational resources. This is despite the undisputed social and economic relevance of uncertainty assessment, for instance in the context of geophysical exploration or the prediction of extreme local weather conditions.

The principal objectives of the workshop are as follows:

(1) Bring together world-leading geoscientists and mathematicians from both academia and industry, as well as talented students, in order to discuss challenges and recent developments in uncertainty quantification for large-scale nonlinear inverse problems.

(2) Promote communication and cross-fertilisation between the fields in general and between geosciences and mathematics in particular.

(3) Initiation of problem-oriented research in applied mathematics that aims at the development of novel techniques for uncertainty quantification.

(4) Training of young researchers, for instance through educative key lectures that introduce different geophysical fields in a mathematical context.