Satellites routinely provide frequent, large-scale, near-surface views of many oceanographic variables pertinent to plankton ecology, but nutrient fertility remains problematic. A recently derived set of nitrate (N), phosphate (P), and silicate (S) nutrient depletion temperatures (NDT) were subtracted from AVHRR-derived sea surface temperatures for March 1999 through June 2000 to determine eight categories of temporally varying N, P, and S presence/absence in the world ocean. Complementary midmonth, aerosol optical thickness (70¿N to 70¿S) and precipitation (40¿N to 40¿S), obtained from the AVHRR Pathfinder effort and the TRMM microwave imager, respectively, represented iron (F) presence (>10%)/absence (<10%) in the world ocean as dry and wet (40¿N to 40¿S) or just dry (40¿N--70¿N and 40¿S--70¿S) deposition of atmospheric dust. The resulting 16 N, P, S, and F presence/absence categories provided a dynamic view of seasonal and interannual nutrient variability in the world ocean. SeaWiFS chlorophyll a maps for April, July, and October 1999 and January 2000 were compared to the N, P, S, and F categories from these months. Phytoplankton cell size and taxonomic composition categories linked to each of the 16 nutrient availability categories translated the nutrient associations with chlorophyll a into an inferred phytoplankton community structure. Consideration of additional bottom-up (like solar irradiance exposure) and top-down (like grazing by zooplankton) influences on size and species/class specific net phytoplankton growth can improve the assignment of inferred phytoplankton community structure. The proposed dynamic approach toward monitoring nutrient availability can contribute to refined estimates of biogeochemical fluxes in the world ocean.