Upcoming TALKS

Title: What can statistical mechanics do for geoscientists? Interactive Immediate Neighbour Interpolation of Geoscientific Data

Date: Tuesday, February 11th at 4 PM

Speaker:  Arya Kimiaghalam (University of Toronto, GeoDecisions Group)

Location: In person (University of Toronto, Department of Earth Sciences, Room ES2093, 22 Ursula Franklin Street) and online

Abstract: 

A diverse range of interpolation methods, including Kriging, spline/minimum curvature and radial basis function interpolation exist for interpolating spatially incomplete geoscientific data. In this study, we exploit the adaptability of locally interacting systems from statistical mechanics and develop a new interpolation framework for numerical geoscientific data called Interacting Immediate Neighbour Interpolation (IINI), which solely relies on local and immediate neighbour correlations. In the IINI method, medium-to-long range correlations are consolidated from the collective local interactions of grid points in geoscientific maps. To demonstrate the functionality and strengths of IINI, we apply our interpolation methodology to two cases, namely reconstruction of a geological image and the interpolation of airborne radiometric data. Results show that IINI is competitive with conventional interpolation techniques in terms of validation accuracy, while being significantly simpler in terms of algorithmic complexity and data pre-processing requirements.

Author Biography: 

Arya is a physics PhD student and a member of the GeoDecisions Group at the University of Toronto. His research is mainly focused on exploration geophysics, AI-driven mineral prospectivity mapping and decision making in mineral exploration. He is also an affiliated researcher at the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), where he works on developing pan-Canadian mineral prospectivity models of critical metals. Prior to his graduate studies, he earned a BSc. in physics and a minor in mathematics from the University of Toronto, with a focus on atomic, molecular and optical physics.