This dataset is the output of a one-dimensional model that simulated the time evolution of growth of Synechococcus phycoerythrin pigment types, with low, high, and variable ratios of phycourobilin to phycoerythrobilin (PUB:PEB; pigment types 3a, 3c and 3d, respectively). The model used to generate the output was built on existing published equations of competition for light color within an ocean water column by Stomp and coworkers. Our version of the model was coded in MATLAB, and the depth of the water column was made variable. Additional absorption by chlorophyll and coccolithophores were added as options to the standard absorption by seawater. All growth and photosynthetic parameters for the Synechococcus strains were kept constant except for their specific absorption spectra, with the 3d chromatic acclimater having a variable absorption spectrum. This ensured differences in growth were only attributed to differences in light color absorption. The model solution yielded the relative abundance of the three cyanobacteria pigment types integrated across the one-dimensional layer, and results from all simulations are contained within this dataset. 

Data contained within this dataset resulted from simulations from a type IV chromatic acclimation model (https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.4663350) fully described in Lovindeer, R., Ustick, L. J., Primeau, F., Martiny, A. C., & Mackey, K. R. M. (2021) Modeling ocean color niche selection by Synechococcus blue-green acclimaters. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans: 126 (https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC017434), with corresponding model equations fully described in the paper's Supplemental Text. The model equations were modified from Stomp et al. (2008) The American Naturalist, 172(5), E169–E185. 

The output is given in cells/m³ as well as the percentages within the final population at model equilibrium. Parameters tested within the model to generate the output dataset were: light color (white, cyan, blue, green, and daylight); light color oscillation time between two colors; concentrations of secondary light absorbers (denoted by the spectra of chlorophyll and of E. huxleyi); and the depth of the model's homogenous (mixed) layer.

In-coming light spectra for colors were measured using the emission spectra of LED lights. Daylight spectrum was . The model was parameterized using monoculture experiments of Synechococcus strains with parameters listed in the Supplement of the accompanying manuscript.

Simulation numbers are listed in column 1. Parameter descriptions and their inclusion for each simulation are listed columns 2 - 8 in the following order: input light color, light color oscillation time, maximum growth rates of the cyanobacteria cells in green light (GL), and blue light (BL), concentrations of chlorophyll-a (CHL), and coccolithophores (Coccos) in mg/m³, and the depth of the model's mixed layer (MLD) in meters. 

Output results are recorded as abundances of cyanobacteria (Synechococcus pigment types 3a, 3c, and 3d strains) in cells/m³ and range in magnitude from 10¹¹ to 10¹³ with no change in magnitude across columns 9 to 11. The fraction of each Synechococcus pigment type in the population at model equilibrium is calculated and displayed in columns 12-14. See accompanying README for details on the parameters.