Anomaly (Natural Sciences)
Anomaly (Natural Sciences)
Anomaly (Natural Sciences)
In the natural sciences, especially in atmospheric and Earth sciences involving applied statistics, an
anomaly is a persisting deviation in a physical quantity from its expected value, e.g., the systematic
difference between a measurement and a trend or a model prediction.[1] Similarly, a standardized
anomaly equals an anomaly divided by a standard deviation.[1] A group of anomalies can be analyzed
spatially, as a map, or temporally, as a time series. It should not be confused for an isolated outlier. There
are examples in atmospheric sciences and in geophysics.
Calculation
The location and scale measures used in forming an anomaly time-series may either be constant or may
themselves be a time series or a map. For example, if the original time series consisted of daily mean
temperatures, the effect of seasonal cycles might be removed using a deseasonalization filter.
Robust statistics, resistant to the effects of outliers, are sometimes used as the basis of the transformation.[1]
Examples
Atmospheric sciences
In the atmospheric sciences, the climatological annual cycle is often used as the expected value. Famous
atmospheric anomalies are for instance the Southern Oscillation index (SOI) and the North Atlantic
oscillation index. SOI is the atmospheric component of El Niño, while NAO plays an important role for
European weather by modification of the exit of the Atlantic storm track. A climate normal can also be used
to derive a climate anomaly.[2]
Geophysics
Gravity anomaly, difference between the observed gravity and a value predicted from a
model
Bouguer anomaly, anomaly in gravimetry
Free-air anomaly, gravity anomaly that has been computed for latitude and corrected for
elevation of the station
Iridium anomaly, an unusual abundance of what is normally a very rare element in the
Earth's crust
Magnetic anomaly, local variation in the Earth's magnetic field
Bangui magnetic anomaly, in central Africa
Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, territory rich in iron ores located within Kursk Oblast, Belgorod
Oblast, and Oryol Oblast
Temagami Magnetic Anomaly, large buried geologic structure in the Temagami region of
Ontario, Canada
See also
Bias (statistics)
Climate oscillation
Frequency spectrum
Innovation (signal processing)
Least squares
Least-squares spectral analysis
References
1. Wilks, D.S. (1995) Statistical Methods in the Atmospheric science, Academic Press. ISBN 0-
12-751965-3 (page 42)
2. Dictionary of Global Climate Change (https://books.google.com/books?id=ypcMBwAAQBAJ
&dq=climate+anomaly&pg=PA53). Springer Science & Business Media. August 15, 2008.
ISBN 9780585295732 – via Google Books.