Adaptive Non-Linear Partition of Unity Methods for Scattered Data Interpolation with Discontinuities

Abstract

Scattered data approximation with discontinuities is challenging due to the Gibbs phenomenon, which significantly reduces accuracy near interfaces. The recently introduced Non-Linear Partition of Unity Method (NL-PUM) addresses this by combining Radial Basis Function (RBF) interpolation with a non-linear Weighted Essentially Non-Oscillatory (WENO) strategy. While effective, NL-PUM's performance relies heavily on two fixed hyperparameters: the RBF shape parameter and the patch radius. This work extends NL-PUM by adapting both hyperparameters locally using Leave-One-Out Cross-Validation (LOOCV) minimized via Global Optimization with Optimistic Improvement (GOOI). Our main innovation is a smoothness indicator linking a discontinuity-aware shrinkage process to LOOCV-based radius selection: patches in smooth regions remain unchanged, while those near discontinuities automatically shrink to avoid crossing the interface. The resulting method, LOOCV-NL-PUM-GOOI, requires no prior knowledge of interface geometry and introduces no extra cost beyond standard adaptive shape parameter selection. Numerical experiments on synthetic test functions with jump discontinuities and a real-data application to Norwegian Fjords elevation data confirm that this approach substantially reduces approximation error near discontinuities while preserving full accuracy in smooth regions.