REGIONALIZED

VARIABLES
- Variance (geostatistics)
- Covariance (spatial
correlation)
- Cluster analysis
(regionalization)
Ronny Berndtsson

Objectives course

Ability to do a geostatistical
analysis employing variance
of a data set.
Ability to do a spatial correlation analysis employing
covariance of a data set.
Ability to do a regionalization employing cluster
analysis.

Regionalized variables

Literature

Handouts
Application spatial correlation
and cluster analysis, Uvo and
Berndtsson (1996) (available
on Air through ftp).
Application geostatistics,
Berndtsson et al. (1993).

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Software

Geoeas (geostatistical
software freely available
from http://www.epa.gov/-

ada/csmos/models/geoeas.html

Matlab (correlation and

cluster analyses)

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Today's topic

Analysis of a single data field

z(x, y) (note; for correlation
time series are needed)!

z(x, y)
x

z
y
Regionalized variable z = z(x, y)
Regionalized variables

Examples of spatially dependent

variables (regionalized variables)

Rainfall
Soils hydraulic conductivity
Chemical concentration
Plant properties
Population characteristics
What variable is not?

Regionalized variables

Why use regional

variables theory?
-

General analysis tool for spatially

varying/dependent data.

- A general tool for spatial interpolation.

- A tool for regionalization studies.
- A basis for developing spatial models
that consider regional differences.
- Just because it is fun and interesting!

Regionalized variables

Definition of variance
and covariance
Variance V(x) = E[(x - m)2] = 2
Covariance C(x, y) =
E[(x - mx)2(y - my)2]
Correlation coefficient R(x, y) =
C(x, y)/[V(x) V(y)]1/2

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Spatial field points

Assumptions:
1st order stationarity
(E(z) = constant)
2nd order stationarity
(V(z) = constant)
x

z(x, y)

.
z1

. z2

y
h
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Spurios correlation (or

variance)!

If data contain many zeros

If data contain outliers
If data contain trend

Check normality (if nonnormal apply relevant data

transformation)
De-trend if necessary

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Definition
semivariance

V(z2 z1) = E(z2 z1)2 = 2(h)

(h) = E(z2 z1)2/2
*(h) = ((z+h) - z)2/2n(h)
n = number of observation
pairs at h distance

Regionalized variables

Spatial correlation
(h) = C(z1, z2)/[V(z1) V(z2)]1/2
where z1 and z2 are time series at
corresponding points and h is the
distance between z1 and z2

Regionalized variables

Both correlation and semivariance expressed as a

function of distance h

(h)

1.0

(h) = 1 - (h)
(if stationary!)

Distance h

(h)
Vtot

Distance h

Regionalized variables

Errors + small-scale
variability
(h)

1.0

Sum of errors and

small-scale variation

Distance h

(h)
Vtot

Sum of errors
and small-scale
variation

Distance h

Regionalized variables

The variogram
(h)
Sill
Vtot

Nugget
Range

Distance h

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The correlogram

(h)

1.0

Decorrelation =
1/e = 0.37
Decorrelation
distance

Distance h

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Spatial analyses
Correlogram

Variogram

Normal

Random

Highly
correlated
in space

Significant
trend

Data not
stationary

Distance

Distance

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Experimental variogram
(h)

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Correlogram for different

time steps
(h)

Distance
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Correlogram
seasonal difference

(h)

Distance

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Regional differences; data not

homogeneous and stationarity
assumption not fulfilled!
z(x, y)
x

Area of low
correlation

y
Area of high
correlation

Regionalized variables

Cluster analysis

Technique to discriminate
between different data
groups with mutually high
similarity. Dendrogram:

From: http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Workshops/GEMINI/geoff_petrophysical_modules/sld006.htm

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Wards method

From: http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Workshops/GEMINI/geoff_petrophysical_modules/sld006.htm

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Indata for cluster analysis

Raw data
Semivariance
Correlation
etc

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Level of detail in
dendrogram

Level 3
Level 2

Level 1

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Regionalization based on
three levels of detail

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Directional dependence
spatial correlation

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Regional differences for

spatial correlation

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Exercises

Calculate and plot variograms for your data

(Geoeas)
Calculate and plot correlograms for your data (Matlab)
Use cluster analysis to
delineate homogeneous
regions (Matlab)

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Geoeas

Calculate experimental
variograms
Plot variograms
Use the variograms for
kriging

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Data file Geoeas

Data for Geoeas analyses
3
X-coor m
Y-coor m
Al
ug/g DM
0.707 39.293 55000
0.303 20.234 44000
0.450 15.232 34000
0.420 10.210 64000
etc
Regionalized variables

Spatial correlation

(h)

Calculate correlation
coefficient for time series of
pairwise points
Calculate distance between
these pairwise points
Plot correlation vs. distance
for all unique station
combinations
x

x
Distance

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Cluster analysis

Possible in Matlab
Perform a regionalization
Compare e.g., variance with
correlation as dependent
measure.

Regionalized variables

Matlab help Cluster

CLUSTER Construct clusters from LINKAGE output.

T = CLUSTER(Z,'CUTOFF',C) constructs clusters from cluster
tree Z. Z is a matrix of size M-1 by 3, generated by LINKAGE.
C is a threshold for cutting the hierarchical tree generated
by LINKAGE into clusters. Clusters are formed when
inconsistent values are less than CUTOFF (see INCONSISTENT).
The output T is a vector of size M that contains the cluster
number for each observation in the original data.
T = CLUSTER(Z,'MAXCLUST',N) specifies N as the maximum
number of clusters to form from the hierarchical tree in Z.
T = CLUSTER(...,'CRITERION','CRIT') uses the specified
criterion for forming clusters, where 'CRIT' is either
'inconsistent' or 'distance'.
T = CLUSTER(...,'DEPTH',D) evaluates inconsistent values to
a depth of D in the tree. The default is D=2.
See also PDIST, LINKAGE, COPHENET, INCONSISTENT,
CLUSTERDATA.

Regionalized variables

References
Berndtsson, R., A. Bahri, and
K. Jinno, (1993), Spatial
dependence
of
geochemical elements in a
semi-arid agricultural field:
2. Geostatistical properties,
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 57,
1323-1329.
Uvo,
C.
B.,
and
R.
Berndtsson,
(1996),
Regionalization and spatial
properties of Cear State
rainfall in Northeast Brazil,
J. Geophys.
Res
.,
101,
Regionalized variables
4221-4233