Simple heterogeneity parametrization for sea surface temperature and chlorophyll

•Chlorophyll and SST can be parametrized by simple power laws (2 parameters).•The 2 parameters are calculated for satellite data and different situations.•Insight into chlorophyll & SST distributions is obtained through the 2 parameters.•The parametrization serves to determine the representative measurement area.•Examples of measurement networks are calculated.

Using satellite maps this paper offers a complex analysis of chlorophyll & SST heterogeneity in the shelf seas around the southwest of the UK. The heterogeneity scaling follows a simple power law and is consequently parametrized by two parameters. It is shown that in most cases these two parameters vary only relatively little with time. The paper offers a detailed comparison of field heterogeneity between different regions. How much heterogeneity is in each region preserved in the annual median data is also determined. The paper explicitly demonstrates how one can use these results to calculate representative measurement area for in situ networks.