Biogeochemical data of sinking particulate matter collected by sediment traps at E2M3A mooring (2013-2020) in the Southern Adriatic Sea

The dataset presented (NetCDF format), includes sediment trap derived fluxes (total mass, POC, CaCO3, bSiO2) at ~1200 m depth from the E2M3A deep-sea mooring in the center of the Southern Adriatic Sea in the period from December 2013 to September 2020. The E2M3A observatory is positioned in the centre of the cyclonic gyre where deep convection process takes place, involving both the atmosphere and the ocean dynamics and forming new dense and oxygenated waters, thus triggering the biological pump. The E2M3A mooring is included in the southern Adriatic regional facilities of EMSO-ERIC consortium managed from OGS Trieste and CNR-ISP. Sediment traps, positioned at two levels (below the photic layer at -120m and near the bottom at -1050m), allow the understanding of the processes responsible for the high-frequency and interannual variability of new production and of phytoplankton biomass. Total mass fluxes (TMF) measured at the shallower trap were generally lower that those measured at the bottom trap, ranging from 16 to 706 mg m-2 d-1, with a time-weighted average of 133 mg m-2 d-1, whereas at the bottom trap TMF varied from 33 to 885 mg m-2 d-1, with a time-weighted average of 190 mg m-2 d-1. The organic carbon flux, followed the same seasonal trend, with higher values below the photic zone, varying from 1.7 to 31.9 mg m-2 d-1, with a mean of 5.8 mg m-2 d-1 at the shallow trap.