The conditional extremes framework allows for event-based stochastic modeling of dependent extremes, and has recently been extended to spatial and spatio-temporal settings. After standardizing the marginal distributions and applying an appropriate linear normalization, certain non-stationary Gaussian processes can be used as asymptotically-motivated models for the process conditioned on threshold exceedances at a fixed reference location and time. In this work, we adapt existing conditional extremes models to allow for the handling of large spatial datasets. This involves specifying the model for spatial observations at $d$ locations in terms of a latent $m\ll d$ dimensional Gaussian model, whose structure is specified by a Gaussian Markov random field. We perform Bayesian inference for such models for datasets containing thousands of observation locations using the integrated nested Laplace approximation, or INLA. We explain how constraints on the spatial and spatio-temporal Gaussian processes, arising from the conditioning mechanism, can be implemented through the latent variable approach without losing the computationally convenient Markov property. We discuss tools for the comparison of models via their posterior distributions, and illustrate the flexibility of the approach with gridded Red Sea surface temperature data at over $6,000$ observed locations. Posterior sampling is exploited to study the probability distribution of cluster functionals of spatial and spatio-temporal extreme episodes.
This work has been motivated by the challenge of the 2017 conference on Extreme-Value Analysis (EVA2017), with the goal of predicting daily precipitation quantiles at the $99.8\%$ level for each month at observed and unobserved locations. We here develop a Bayesian generalized additive modeling framework tailored to estimate complex trends in marginal extremes observed over space and time. Our approach is based on a set of regression equations linked to the exceedance probability above a high threshold and to the size of the excess, the latter being modeled using the generalized Pareto (GP) di…
We address in this paper a new approach for fitting spatiotemporal models with application in disease mapping using the interaction types 1,2,3, and 4. When we account for the spatiotemporal interactions in disease-mapping models, inference becomes more useful in revealing unknown patterns in the data. However, when the number of locations and/or the number of time points is large, the inference gets computationally challenging due to the high number of required constraints necessary for inference, and this holds for various inference architectures including Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and…
The integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA) for Bayesian inference is an efficient approach to estimate the posterior marginal distributions of the parameters and latent effects of Bayesian hierarchical models that can be expressed as latent Gaussian Markov random fields (GMRF). The representation as a GMRF allows the associated software R-INLA to estimate the posterior marginals in a fraction of the time as typical Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms. INLA can be extended by means of Bayesian model averaging (BMA) to increase the number of models that it can fit to conditional latent G…
Bayesian hierarchical models with latent Gaussian layers have proven very flexible in capturing complex stochastic behavior and hierarchical structures in high-dimensional spatial and spatio-temporal data. Whereas simulation-based Bayesian inference through Markov Chain Monte Carlo may be hampered by slow convergence and numerical instabilities, the inferential framework of Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA) is capable to provide accurate and relatively fast analytical approximations to posterior quantities of interest. It heavily relies on the use of Gauss-Markov dependence struct…
In air pollution studies, dispersion models provide estimates of concentration at grid level covering the entire spatial domain, and are then calibrated against measurements from monitoring stations. However, these different data sources are misaligned in space and time. If misalignment is not considered, it can bias the predictions. We aim at demonstrating how the combination of multiple data sources, such as dispersion model outputs, ground observations and covariates, leads to more accurate predictions of air pollution at grid level. We consider nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentration in Great…
In recent years, spatial and spatio-temporal modeling have become an important area of research in many fields (epidemiology, environmental studies, disease mapping). In this work we propose different spatial models to study hospital recruitment, including some potentially explicative variables. Interest is on the distribution per geographical unit of the ratio between the number of patients living in this geographical unit and the population in the same unit. Models considered are within the framework of Bayesian Latent Gaussian models. Our response variable is assumed to follow a binomial di…
Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling of Dengue in Recife, Brazil (2015-2024): The Role of Spatial Granularity and Data Quality for Epidemiological Risk Mapping
Due to climate change and human activity, wildfires are expected to become more frequent and extreme worldwide, causing economic and ecological disasters. The deployment of preventive measures and operational forecasts can be aided by stochastic modeling that helps to understand and quantify the mechanisms governing the occurrence intensity. We here develop a point process framework for wildfire ignition points observed in the French Mediterranean basin since 1995, and we fit a spatio-temporal log-Gaussian Cox process with monthly temporal resolution in a Bayesian framework using the integrate…
The integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA) is a well-known and popular technique for spatial modeling with a user-friendly interface in the R-INLA package. Unfortunately, only a certain class of latent Gaussian models are amenable to fitting with INLA. In this paper we describe Template Model Builder (TMB), an existing technique which is well-suited to fitting complex spatio-temporal models. TMB is relatively unknown to the spatial statistics community, but is a highly flexible random effects modeling tool which allows users to define complex random effects models through simple C++ te…
A successful model for high-dimensional spatial extremes should, in principle, be able to describe both weakening extremal dependence at increasing levels and changes in the type of extremal dependence class as a function of the distance between locations. Furthermore, the model should allow for computationally tractable inference using inference methods that efficiently extract information from data and that are robust to model misspecification. In this paper, we demonstrate how to fulfil all these requirements by developing a comprehensive methodological workflow for efficient Bayesian model…
This paper proposes a two-stage estimation approach for a spatial misalignment scenario that is motivated by the epidemiological problem of linking pollutant exposures and health outcomes. We use the integrated nested Laplace approximation method to estimate the parameters of a two-stage spatio-temporal model; the first stage models the exposures while the second stage links the health outcomes to exposures. The first stage is based on the Bayesian melding model, which assumes a common latent field for the geostatistical monitors data and a high-resolution data such as satellite data. The seco…
Moderation effects and elasticities in compositional regression with a total. Application to Bayesian spatiotemporal modelling of all-cause mortality from environmental stressors
Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Conflict Occurrence and Fatalities in Ethiopia: A Bayesian Model and Predictive Insights Using Event-level Data (1997--2024)
We present a class of spatiotemporal models for Poisson areal data suitable for the analysis of emerging infectious diseases. These models assume Poisson observations related through a link equation to a latent random field process. This latent random field process evolves through time with proper Gaussian Markov random field convolutions. Our approach naturally accommodates flexible structures such as distinct but interacting temporal trends for each region and across-time contamination among neighboring regions. We develop a Bayesian analysis approach with a simulation-based procedure: speci…
Simulation of rainfall over a region for long time-sequences can be very useful for planning and policy-making, especially in India where the economy is heavily reliant on monsoon rainfall. However, such simulations should be able to preserve the known spatial and temporal characteristics of rainfall over India. General Circulation Models (GCMs) are unable to do so, and various rainfall generators designed by hydrologists using stochastic processes like Gaussian Processes are also difficult to apply over the vast and highly diverse landscape of India. In this paper, we explore a series of Baye…
The prevalence of multivariate space-time data collected from monitoring networks and satellites, or generated from numerical models, has brought much attention to multivariate spatio-temporal statistical models, where the covariance function plays a key role in modeling, inference, and prediction. For multivariate space-time data, understanding the spatio-temporal variability, within and across variables, is essential in employing a realistic covariance model. Meanwhile, the complexity of generic covariances often makes model fitting very challenging, and simplified covariance structures, inc…
Conditional Density Estimation (CDE) models deal with estimating conditional distributions. The conditions imposed on the distribution are the inputs of the model. CDE is a challenging task as there is a fundamental trade-off between model complexity, representational capacity and overfitting. In this work, we propose to extend the model's input with latent variables and use Gaussian processes (GP) to map this augmented input onto samples from the conditional distribution. Our Bayesian approach allows for the modeling of small datasets, but we also provide the machinery for it to be applied to…
We introduce a Bayesian approach for analyzing high-dimensional multinomial data that are referenced over space and time. In particular, the proportions associated with multinomial data are assumed to have a logit link to a latent spatio-temporal mixed effects model. This strategy allows for covariances that are nonstationarity in both space and time, asymmetric, and parsimonious. We also introduce the use of the conditional multivariate logit-beta distribution into the dependent multinomial data setting, which leads to conjugate full-conditional distributions for use in a collapsed Gibbs samp…
This study develops a statistical conditional approach to evaluate climate model performance in wind speed and direction and to project their future changes under the representative concentration pathway 8.5 scenario over inland and offshore locations across the Continental United States. The proposed conditional approach extends the scope of existing studies by characterizing the changes of the full range of the joint wind speed and direction distribution. Directional wind speed distributions are estimated using two statistical methods: a Weibull distributional regression model and a quantile…
Spatial statistics often involves Cholesky decomposition of covariance matrices. To ensure scalability to high dimensions, several recent approximations have assumed a sparse Cholesky factor of the precision matrix. We propose a hierarchical Vecchia approximation, whose conditional-independence assumptions imply sparsity in the Cholesky factors of both the precision and the covariance matrix. This remarkable property is crucial for applications to high-dimensional spatio-temporal filtering. We present a fast and simple algorithm to compute our hierarchical Vecchia approximation, and we provide…
Recent extreme value theory literature has seen significant emphasis on the modelling of spatial extremes, with comparatively little consideration of spatio-temporal extensions. This neglects an important feature of extreme events: their evolution over time. Many existing models for the spatial case are limited by the number of locations they can handle; this impedes extension to space-time settings, where models for higher dimensions are required. Moreover, the spatio-temporal models that do exist are restrictive in terms of the range of extremal dependence types they can capture. Recently, c…
In this paper, we introduce a new spatial model that incorporates heteroscedastic variance depending on neighboring locations. The proposed process is regarded as the spatial equivalent to the temporal autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH) model. We show additionally how the introduced spatial ARCH model can be used in spatiotemporal settings. In contrast to the temporal ARCH model, in which the distribution is known given the full information set of the prior periods, the distribution is not straightforward in the spatial and spatiotemporal setting. However, it is possible to e…
Distance sampling is a widely used method for estimating wildlife population abundance. The fact that conventional distance sampling methods are partly design-based constrains the spatial resolution at which animal density can be estimated using these methods. Estimates are usually obtained at survey stratum level. For an endangered species such as the blue whale, it is desirable to estimate density and abundance at a finer spatial scale than stratum. Temporal variation in the spatial structure is also important. We formulate the process generating distance sampling data as a thinned spatial p…
This paper introduces a multivariate spatiotemporal autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH) model based on a vec-representation. The model includes instantaneous spatial autoregressive spill-over effects in the conditional variance, as they are usually present in spatial econometric applications. Furthermore, spatial and temporal cross-variable effects are explicitly modelled. We transform the model to a multivariate spatiotemporal autoregressive model using a log-squared transformation and derive a consistent quasi-maximum-likelihood estimator (QMLE). For finite samples and diffe…
In time-series analyses, particularly for finance, generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) models are widely applied statistical tools for modelling volatility clusters (i.e., periods of increased or decreased risk). In contrast, it has not been considered to be of critical importance until now to model spatial dependence in the conditional second moments. Only a few models have been proposed for modelling local clusters of increased risks. In this paper, we introduce novel spatial GARCH and exponential GARCH processes in a unified spatial and spatiotemporal GARCH-typ…
This paper contributes to the multivariate analysis of marked spatio-temporal point process data by introducing different partial point characteristics and extending the spatial dependence graph model formalism. Our approach yields a unified framework for different types of spatio-temporal data including both, purely qualitatively (multivariate) cases and multivariate cases with additional quantitative marks. The proposed graphical model is defined through partial spectral density characteristics, it is highly computationally efficient and reflects the conditional similarity among sets of spat…
Nonparametric regression of spatio-temporal data using infinite-dimensional covariates
Washington University at St. Louis（圣路易斯华盛顿大学）；Indian Institute of Management Bangalore（班加罗尔印度管理学院）；University of Florida（佛罗里达大学）；University of Essex（埃塞克斯大学）
