A random function – of either one variable (a random process), or two or more variables (a random field) – is called Gaussian if every finite-dimensional distribution is a multivariate normal distribution. Gaussian random fields on the sphere are useful (for example) when analysing
Sometimes, a value of a Gaussian random function deviates from its expected value by several standard deviations. This is a large deviation. Though rare in a small domain (of space or/and time), large deviations may be quite usual in a large domain.