magnetic anomaly

American  

noun

Geology.

1. a departure from the normal magnetic field of the earth.

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Etymology

Origin of magnetic anomaly

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Navy helicopters, which can land on the warships and hover just above the waves, scan surrounding waters using equipment including magnetic anomaly detectors that sense metal below.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026

His project, called Lunar Vertex, will investigate the magnetic anomaly in a region called Reiner Gamma, which contains a bright surface marking shaped like a tadpole.

From Scientific American • Aug. 2, 2022

The new paper notes, however, that the magnetic anomaly may be an illusion, and disappears when viewed at a larger scale.

From Salon • Mar. 14, 2021

There are indeed magnetic anomaly stripes that go through Iceland, although the activity of the island's volcanoes perturbs those stripes, so they are hard to follow.

From Scientific American • Sep. 20, 2020

There are many other important active sensor classes, three of which are active acoustics, lidar and magnetic anomaly detectors.

From Shock and Awe — Achieving Rapid Dominance by Wade, James P.