Pigment concentration and pigment-based phytoplankton community composition data from a KOSMOS mesocosm experiment carried out in the frame work of the Ocean Artificial Upwelling project. The experiment was performed in the North-East Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Gran Canaria in autumn 2018 and lasted for 39 days. In this study we investigated the effect of different intensities of artificial upwelling combined with two upwelling modes (recurring additions versus one singular addition) on the phytoplankton community. Filters were analysed for a range of photosynthetic pigments using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Based on pigment concentrations, phytoplankton community composition was approximated using the CHEMTAX software with the original pigment ratios from Mackey et al (1996, doi:10.3354/meps144265). The input included Chl a, b, c2, and c3, peridinin, 19'-butanoyloxyfucoxanthin, fucoxanthin, neoxanthin, prasinoxanthin, violaxanthin, 19'-hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin, alloxanthin, diadinoxanthin, diatoxanthin and zeaxanthin. Divinyl Chl a was instead fully associated with Prochlorophyceae. The presence of the main phytoplankton groups is expressed in Chl a equivalents.