Nonlinear Multivariate Spatial Modeling Using NLPCA and Pair‐Copulas

A novel geostatistical modeling approach is developed to model nonlinear multivariate spatial dependence using nonlinear principal component analysis (NLPCA) and pair‐copulas. In spatial studies, multivariate measurements are frequently collected at each location. The dependence between such measurements can be complex. In this article, a multivariate geostatistical model is developed that can capture both nonlinear spatial dependence across locations and nonlinear dependence between measurements at a particular location. Nonlinear multivariate dependence between spatial variables is removed using NLPCA. Subsequently, a pair‐copula based model is fitted to each transformed variable to model the univariate nonlinear spatial dependencies. NLPCA and pair‐copulas, within the proposed model, are compared with stepwise conditional transformation (SCT) and conventional kriging. The results show that, for the two case studies presented, the proposed model that utilizes NLPCA and pair‐copulas reproduces nonlinear multivariate structures and univariate distributions better than existing methods based on SCT and kriging.