Fig. 1: A plankton bloom offshore of Namibia.

The picture was taken by the MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) instrument aboard ESA’s Envisat satellite on 6/11/2007. The red dashed elliptical line indicates the water patch where the bloom is occurring. Coupled biophysical processes lead to a marked spatial heterogeneity - i.e patchiness - within the region.