This document discusses the data sparse approximation of the Karhunen-Loève expansion, focusing on hierarchical matrices for stochastic partial differential equations (PDEs). It outlines the methodology for approximating covariance functions, discrete eigenvalue problems, and provides numerical examples illustrating the efficiency of H-matrices in terms of computational time and memory requirements. The study emphasizes low Kronecker rank approximations and tensor decompositions to optimize storage and computation for random fields.