Derivatives of Spatial Variances of Growing Windows and the Variogram

Geostatistical analysis of spatial random functions frequently uses sample variograms computed from increments of samples of a regionalized random variable. This paper addresses the theory of computing variograms not from increments but from spatial variances. The objective is to extract information about the point support space from the average or larger support data. The variance is understood as a parametric and second moment average feature of a population. However, it is well known that when the population is for a stationary random function, spatial variance within a region is a function of the size and geometry of the region and not a function of location. Spatial variance is conceptualized as an estimation variance between two physical regions or a region and itself. If such a spatial variance could be measured within several sizes of windows, such variances allow the computation of the sample variogram. The approach is extended to covariances between attributes that lead to the cross-variogram. The case of nonpoint sample support of the blocks or elements composing each window is also included. A numerical example illustrates the application of this conceptualization.