A computer-implemented method for generating permeability scaling functions for different features of interest to estimate permeability, the method being implemented in a computer system, the computer system including one or more physical computer processors and non-transient electronic storage, the method comprising: obtaining, from the non-transient electronic storage, subsurface data sets, wherein a given subsurface data set corresponds to a given region of interest within a given feature of interest and specifies permeability values as a function of position within the given region of interest, the given feature of interest including a given type of rock; generating, with the one or more physical computer processors, permeability scaling functions for individual features of interest, wherein the permeability scaling functions for the given feature of interest is generated based on the subsurface data sets, wherein generating a given permeability scaling function for the given feature of interest includes performing fluid flow simulation of the given feature of interest at different sample sizes to determine a relationship of scaling of permeability with increase in size, wherein the relationship of scaling of the permeability with increase in size reflects heterogeneity of the given type of rock within the given feature of interest; storing the permeability scaling functions for the individual features of interest in the non-transient electronic storage, wherein different ones of the permeability scaling functions correspond to different types of rock; and generating, with the one or more physical computer processors, upscaled subsurface distributions for the given feature of interest using the given permeability scaling function for the given feature of interest, wherein the upscaled subsurface distributions correspond to a larger region of interest within the given feature of interest and estimate permeability distributions of the larger region of interest within the given feature of interest taking into account the given type of rock and based on the relationship of scaling of the permeability with increase in size. obtaining, from the non-transient electronic storage, subsurface data sets, wherein a given subsurface data set corresponds to a given region of interest within a given feature of interest and specifies permeability values as a function of position within the given region of interest, the given feature of interest including a given type of rock; generating, with the one or more physical computer processors, permeability scaling functions for individual features of interest, wherein the permeability scaling functions for the given feature of interest is generated based on the subsurface data sets, wherein generating a given permeability scaling function for the given feature of interest includes performing fluid flow simulation of the given feature of interest at different sample sizes to determine a relationship of scaling of permeability with increase in size, wherein the relationship of scaling of the permeability with increase in size reflects heterogeneity of the given type of rock within the given feature of interest; storing the permeability scaling functions for the individual features of interest in the non-transient electronic storage, wherein different ones of the permeability scaling functions correspond to different types of rock; and generating, with the one or more physical computer processors, upscaled subsurface distributions for the given feature of interest using the given permeability scaling function for the given feature of interest, wherein the upscaled subsurface distributions correspond to a larger region of interest within the given feature of interest and estimate permeability distributions of the larger region of interest within the given feature of interest taking into account the given type of rock and based on the relationship of scaling of the permeability with increase in size.