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

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.