Estimation of Huesler-Reiss distributions and Brown-Resnick processes

Abstract: Estimation of extreme-value parameters from observations in the max-domain of attraction (MDA) of a multivariate max-stable distribution commonly uses aggregated data such as block maxima. Since we expect that additional information is contained in the non-aggregated, single "large" observations, we introduce a new approach of inference based on a multivariate peaks-over-threshold method. We show that for any process in the MDA of the frequently used H\"usler-Reiss model or its spatial extension, the Brown-Resnick process, suitably defined conditional increments asymptotically follow a multivariate Gaussian distribution. This leads to computationally efficient estimates of the H\"usler-Reiss parameter matrix. Further, the results enable parametric inference for Brown-Resnick processes. A simulation study compares the performance of the new estimators to other commonly used methods. As an application, we fit a non-isotropic Brown-Resnick process to the extremes of 12 year data of daily wind speed measurements.