Increases in the temporal frequency of satellite-derived imagery mean a greater diversity of ocean surface features can be studied, modelled, and understood. The ongoing temporal data “explosion” is a valuable resource, having prompted the development of adapted and new methodologies to extract information from hypertemporal datasets. Current suitable methodologies for use in hypertemporal ocean surface studies include using pixel-centred measurement analyses (PMA), classification analyses (CLS), and principal components analyses (PCA). These require limited prior knowledge of the system being measured. Time-series analyses (TSA) are also promising, though they require more expert knowledge which may be unavailable. Full use of this resource by ocean and fisheries researchers is restrained by limitations in knowledge on the regional to sub-regional spatiotemporal characteristics of the ocean surface. To lay the foundations for more expert, knowledge-driven research, temporal signatures and temporal baselines need to be identified and quantified in large datasets. There is an opportunity for data-driven hypertemporal methodologies. This review examines nearly 25 years of advances in exploratory hypertemporal research, and how methodologies developed for terrestrial research should be adapted when tasked towards ocean applications. It highlights research gaps which impede methodology transfer, and suggests achievable research areas to be addressed as short-term priorities.

Mapping heterogeneity of the ocean’s surface waters is important for understanding biogeographical distributions, ocean surface habitat mapping, and ocean surface stability. This article describes the Ocean-surface Heterogeneity MApping (OHMA) algorithm—an objective, replicable approach that uses hypertemporal, satellite-derived datasets to map the spatio-temporal heterogeneity of ocean surface waters. The OHMA produces a suite of complementary datasets—a surface spatio-temporal heterogeneity dataset, and an optimised spatio-temporal classification of the ocean surface. It was demonstrated here using a hypertemporal Sea Surface Temperature image dataset of the North Atlantic. Validation with Underway-derived temperature data showed higher heterogeneity areas were associated with stronger surface temperature gradients, or an increased presence of locally extreme temperature values. Using four exploratory case studies, spatio-temporal heterogeneity values were related to a range of region-specific surface and sub-surface characteristics including fronts, currents and bathymetry. The values conveyed the interactions between these parameters as a single metric. Such over-arching heterogeneity information is virtually impossible to map from in-situ instruments, or less temporally dense satellite datasets. This study demonstrated the OHMA approach is a useful and robust tool to explore, examine, and describe the ocean’s surface. It advances our capability to map biologically relevant measures of ocean surface heterogeneity. It can support ongoing efforts in Ocean Surface Partitioning, and attempts to understand marine species distributions. The study highlighted the need to establish dedicated spatio-temporal ocean validation sites, specifically measured using surface transits, to support advances in hypertemporal ocean data use, and exploitation. A number of future research avenues are also highlighted.