Lipid biomarkers of suspended particulate organic matter (POM) collected using stand-alone pumps (SAPs) at station P3 (Scotia Sea, SW Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean).

The dataset includes the lipid molecular data (composition and quantification) of (suspended) particulate organic matter (POM) collected from the surface to ca. 500 m water depth in the Scotia Sea (South West Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean) at station P3 (British Antarctic Survey Ocean Observatory) in November/December 2017. Typically, POM was collected in the mixed layer (ML; 0 – 95 m), in the upper mesopelagic, 150-170 m (ca. ML + 100 m), in the mid/lower-mesopelagic at 250-260 m (ca. ML + 200 m) and at a maximum depth of 440-460 m. Two particle size fractions were recovered (< 53 µm and >53 µm). The lipid data were determined using standard methodologies (e.g. Kiriakoulakis et al., 2004) in order to assess the importance of zooplankton reworking of POM and how this influenced the composition/quality of labile material through the mesopelagic. We were also able to assess how POM composition developed over a period of approximately 4 weeks over the peak and senescent phases of a diatom bloom that dominated surface water biogeochemistry at the time.