Physical and planktonic properties in the ocean exhibit different patterns of patchiness

The patchiness of plankton in the ocean has been apparent for decades, yet 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 biological spatial patterns, 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 using ~650,000 nearly continuous (dx~200m) measurements - representing the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans. While our analysis shows the patchiness of biological variables are intercorrelated, and patchiness of physical variables are intercorrelated, contrary to common view, we find no correlation between physical and biological patchiness. We speculate these spatial metrics may be sensitive to biogeochemical parameters not represented by the absolute value of chl-a. These results provide context for many observations with different interpretations, suggest the use of spatial tests of biogeochemical model parameterizations, and open the way for studies into processes regulating the observed patterns.