Variance Parameter in Patcher

[Joshua Plisinski]

I am a little confused about the behavior of the variance parameter in the Patcher function.  I am calculating change patch size variance in hectares from historical land cover change maps and using this value in Patcher however it produces a set of new patches that have a lower variance than the input value.  Any insights into why this may be occurring?  I can produce a realistic looking pattern by multiplying the historical patch variance by approximately 1000.

Thanks,

Josh

[Joshua Plisinski]

Additionally, I am supplying the transition rates to Patcher as raw cell counts (30x30m).  Does this mean I need to supply the variance in cell counts instead of hectares?