This course will review basic statistical principles and associated statistical quantities that are routinely used in the geosciences to make sense of numerical data. The course will focus on understanding the assumptions underlying a variety of statistical techniques, and then consider some of the most commonly used methods. Topics include: probability, probability distributions, sampling and estimation, sampling distributions associated with the normal distribution (Chi squared distribution, Student's t distribution, F distribution), error estimation, weighted means, single and multivariable linear least squares regression, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Monte Carlo simulation, and principal component analysis (PCA).