Machine Learning Methods in the Environmental Sciences: Contents

Machine learning methods, having originated from computational intelligence (i.e. artificial intelligence), are now ubiquitous in the environmental sciences. This is the first single-authored textbook to give a unified treatment of machine learning methods and their applications in the environmental sciences. Machine learning methods began to infiltrate the environmental sciences in the 1990s. Today, thanks to their powerful nonlinear modelling capability, they are no longer an exotic fringe species, as they are heavily used in satellite data processing, in general circulation models (GCM), in weather and climate prediction, air quality forecasting, analysis and modelling of environmental data, oceanographic and hydrological forecasting, ecological modelling, and in the monitoring of snow, ice and forests, etc. End-of-chapter review questions are included, allowing readers to develop their problem-solving skills and monitor their understanding of the material presented. An appendix lists websites available for downloading computer code and data sources. A resources website is available containing datasets for exercises, and additional material to keep the book completely up-to-date. This book presents machine learning methods and their applications in the environmental sciences (including satellite remote sensing, atmospheric science, climate science, oceanography, hydrology and ecology), written at a level suitable for beginning graduate students and advanced undergraduates. It is also valuable for researchers and practitioners in environmental sciences interested in applying these new methods to their own work.