KOSMOS 2017 Peru mesocosm study: single particle measurements of sinking velocity and physical properties@en

As one of Earth's most productive marine ecosystems, the Peruvian Upwelling System transports large amounts of biogenic matter from the surface to the deep ocean. Whilst particle sinking velocity is a key factor controlling the biological pump, thereby affecting carbon sequestration and oxygen-depletion, it has not yet been measured in this system. During a 50-day mesocosm experiment in the surface waters off the coast of Peru, we regularly sampled sedimented material (sampling depth: 17 m) and analyzed the properties of sinking particles using an optical measurement approach. The presented dataset includes sinking velocity, particle size (ESD), compactness (porosity) and shape (aspect ratio) of >100.000 individually measured particles.作为地球上生产力最高的海洋生态系统之一，秘鲁上升流系统（Peruvian Upwelling System）可将大量生源物质从表层海洋输送至深海。颗粒沉降速度是调控生物泵的关键因素，进而影响碳封存与海洋缺氧过程，但目前该系统中尚未开展相关实测研究。本研究在秘鲁近岸表层水域开展了为期50天的中型实验生态系（mesocosm experiment）实验，定期对17米深度的沉降物质进行采样，并通过光学测量方法分析沉降颗粒的各项特性。本数据集包含超过10万个单独测量颗粒的沉降速度、粒径（等效球直径，ESD）、紧密度（孔隙度）以及形态（长径比）等参数。