Pseudo-cross variograms, positive-definiteness, and cokriging

Cokriging allows the use of data on correlated variables to be used to enhance the estimation of a primary variable or more generally to enhance the estimation of all variables. In the first case, known as the undersampled case, it allows data on an auxiliary variable to be used to make up for an insufficient amount of data. Original formulations required that there be sufficiently many locations where data is available for both variables. The pseudo-cross-variogram, introduced by Clark et al. (1989), allows computing a related empirical spatial function in order to model the function, which can then be used in the cokriging equations in lieu of the cross-variogram. A number of questions left unanswered by Clark et al. are resolved, such as the availability of valid models, an appropriate definition of positive-definiteness, and the relationship of the pseudo-cross-variogram to the usual cross-variogram. The latter is important for modeling this function.