Exploratory analysis in environmental sciences

Environmental measurements are known for creating large data sets, because the data are taken at many locations and over long periods of time. Because of the expense in collecting 

Environmental studies can be carried out in the atmosphere, in water, in sediments, on waste, in soil etc. It is possible to measure in the air, sediment, waste, soil and water directly or indirectly by collecting plants and animals from them. It is also possible to measure food prepared from animals living in a certain environment, e.g. enhanced levels of trace elements in milk, cheese or yoghurt. The environment may be defined on a number of different size scales. Sometimes large water and air masses are studied and sometimes limited indoor environments are under investigation. Sometimes local environmental problems are under study and sometimes global sources and sinks of chemicals are the subject. All this makes environmental studies very broad any chemicals in any medium over any kind of time resolution can be of importance. 

Multi-way Analysis With Applications in the Chemical Sciences 

The analysis of this array is done by PARAFAC modeling. Determination of the model rank in this exploratory study is done by increasing the rank until the loadings start to show degeneration. The model of rank three shows degeneration. This can be seen in the component sizes in Table 10.13, but even better in plots of the components. 

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