Data for: Transient shifts in Bering Sea shelf phytoplankton size structure in response to wind-induced mixing

Phytoplankton play a major role in the global carbon cycle and provide
food for primary consumers. Phytoplankton community size structure
influences the deposition of organic matter to benthic food webs, and
energy transfer to higher trophic levels. Phytoplankton assemblages that
are dominated by small cells have low trophic transfer efficiency and high
internal recycling, whereas food webs dominated by large phytoplankton
have high energy transfer and shorter, more efficient food webs. Using the
associated we assessed phytoplankton spring and summer community size
variation on daily to seasonal scales in the Bering Sea over three years
using moored profilers, random forest modeling, and ship survey data. We
show that the spring bloom is dominated by large phytoplankton, followed
by the predominance of small phytoplankton near the surface after the
bloom. We find that summer wind mixing events result in short pulses of
increases in large phytoplankton and enhanced primary production rates,
particularly of larger cells, events that provide important dietary
contributions to zooplankton consumers.