Seasonal flow cytometry counts of picoplankton from the west coast of South Africa (May 2015 to February 2017)

Little is known about the distribution and abundance of picoplankton in coastal waters off southern Africa. This data set is part of a PhD study in which picoplankton were sampled from two depths at four sampling lines along the west coast of South Africa in May, September and November 2015, February, May, August and November 2016, and February 2017. Cell counts were made using a BD Accuri C6 flow cytometer and a BD LSRII flow cytometer. The data set contains cell counts for Synechococcus, Prochlorococcus and Picoeukaryotes.