MAPPING OCEAN SEDIMENTS BY RBF NETWORKS

Estimation of ocean-sediment properties by sparse noisy measurements u sing generalized Radial Basis Function networks is proposed. Given a s et of scattered data points, an RBF network is able to generate a cont inuous smooth approximation for sediment properties as a function of t he x-y-z position, where z is the sediment depth. Advantages and disad vantages of the method are discussed, from both a physical and a compu tational viewpoint. An example using sediment density data obtained by sparse core measurements and different configurations of RBF networks is presented.