The lognormal distribution,environmental data,and radiological monitoring

The lognormal distribution has become a common choice to represent intrinsically positive and often highly skewed environmental data in statistical analysis. However the implications of its use are often not carefully considered. With an emphasis on radiological monitoring applications, this paper reviews what assuming lognormality means in terms of data analysis and interpretation. The relationship of using normal theory methods on log transformed data to multiplicative errors and hypothesis testing in the original scale is also discussed.Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, DOE Contract No. DE-AC-07-76ID01570.