Emergent patterns of patchiness differ between physical and planktonic properties in the ocean.

ABSTRACT: While a rich history of patchiness research has explored spatial structure in the ocean, there is no consensus over the controls on biological patchiness and how physical-ecological-biogeochemical processes and patchiness relate. The prevailing thought is that physics structures biology, but this has not been tested at basin scale with consistent in situ measurements. Here we use the slope of the relationship between variance vs spatial scale to quantify patchiness and ~650,000 nearly continuous (dx ~ 200 m) measurements - representing the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans - and find that patchiness of biological parameters and physical parameters are uncorrelated. We show variance slope is an emergent property with unique patterns in biogeochemical properties distinct from physical t

SUBMITTER: Gray PC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11842825 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature