THE EQUIVALENCE OF PREDICTIONS FROM UNIVERSAL KRIGING AND INTRINSIC RANDOM-FUNCTION KRIGING

A proof is provided that the predictions obtained from kriging based on intrinsic random functions of order k are identical to those obtained from an appropriate universal kriging model. This is a theoretical result based on known variability measures. It does not imply that people performing traditional universal kriging will get the same predictions as those using intrinsic random functions, because traditionally these methods differ in how variability is modeled. For intrinsic random functions, the same proof shows that predictions do not depend on the specific choice of the generalized covariance function. It is argued that the choice between these methods is really one of modeling and estimating the variability in the data. © 1990 International Association for Mathematical Geology.