Fuzzy clustering analysis to study geomagnetic coastal effects

Abstract. The utility of fuzzy set theory in cluster analysis and pattern recognition has been evolving since the mid 1960s, in conjunction with the emergence and evolution of computer technology. The classification of objects into categories is the subject of cluster analysis. The aim of this paper is to employ Fuzzy-clustering technique to examine the interrelationship of geomagnetic coastal and other effects at Indian observatories. Data from the observatories used for the present studies are from Alibag on the West Coast, Visakhapatnam and Pondicherry on the East Coast, Hyderabad and Nagpur as central inland stations which are located far from either of the coasts; all the above stations are free from the influence of the daytime equatorial electrojet. It has been found that Alibag and Pondicherry Observatories form a separate cluster showing anomalous variations in the vertical (Z)-component. H- and D-components form different clusters. The results are compared with the graphical method. Analytical technique and the results of Fuzzy-clustering analysis are discussed here.