Publications des scientifiques de l'IRD

Mara T.A., Delay F., Lehmann F., Younes Anis. (2016). A comparison of two Bayesian approaches for uncertainty quantification. Environmental Modelling and Sofware, 82, p. 21-30. ISSN 1364-8152.

Titre du document
A comparison of two Bayesian approaches for uncertainty quantification
Année de publication
2016
Type de document
Article référencé dans le Web of Science WOS:000378954000003
Auteurs
Mara T.A., Delay F., Lehmann F., Younes Anis
Source
Environmental Modelling and Sofware, 2016, 82, p. 21-30 ISSN 1364-8152
Statistical calibration of model parameters conditioned on observations is performed in a Bayesian framework by evaluating the joint posterior probability density function (pdf) of the parameters. The posterior pdf is very often inferred by sampling the parameters with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms. Recently, an alternative technique to calculate the so-called Maximal Conditional Posterior Distribution (MCPD) appeared. This technique infers the individual probability distribution of a given parameter under the condition that the other parameters of the model are optimal. Whereas the MCMC approach samples probable draws of the parameters, the MCPD samples the most probable draws when one of the parameters is set at various prescribed values. In this study, the results of a user-friendly MCMC sampler called DREAM((zs)) and those of the MCPD sampler are compared. The differences between the two approaches are highlighted before running a comparison inferring two analytical distributions with collinearity and multimodality. Then, the performances of both samplers are compared on an artificial multistep outflow experiment from which the soil hydraulic parameters are inferred. The results show that parameter and predictive uncertainties can be accurately assessed with both the MCMC and MCPD approaches.
Plan de classement
Sciences fondamentales / Techniques d'analyse et de recherche [020] ; Hydrologie [062] ; Pédologie [068]
Localisation
Fonds IRD [F B010070149]
Identifiant IRD
fdi:010070149
Contact