Spherical Median Axes

SUMMARY In an earlier paper, Fisher defined the notion of a median direction for data from a unimodal distribution of three-dimensional unit vectors and studied its statistical properties. Corresponding notions of a median axis for bipolar axial or great circle data were also suggested but not analysed. This paper gives a statistical treatment of spherical median axes, including their asymptotic relative efficiencies, and a comparison with the customary principal or polar axis estimators using asymptotic relative efficiencies. The sample spherical median axes enjoy the same sort of resistance to outlying values as do the median vector, spatial median and linear median.