Dataset: Abundances of copepod species in each net from MOCNESS tows in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific collected on four research cruises from 2007-2017

Data are from vertically-stratified MOCNESS tows (8 or 9 nets per tow) through and within the Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ). Tows sampled various depth ranges between 1200 m to the surface and included paired day and night tows for many strata. Sampling intervals ranged from 100 or 200 m thick in standardized tows from 1000 m depth, and from 25, 50, or 150 m thick in fine-scale tows covering narrower depth intervals. Zooplankton collection occurred on the upcast portion of a tow. Several horizontally-sequenced tows were also done at specific mesopelagic depths within the OMZ. Large water volumes were filtered for most deeper and OMZ nets where abundances were low. MOCNESS sensors including a flowmeter provided environmental data. Tows were done over the course of a decade (2007 - 2017) during 4 cruises. See published papers below for details of tows and sampling schemes.

Net mesh size was 153 µm or 222 µm. Upon retrieval, samples or splits were stored in 4% sodium borate-buffered formaldehyde seawater. Sorting and identifications of whole samples or splits occurred later onshore by a trained technician using stereo- and compound microscopes. The copepod species shown in this dataset were selected to highlight different types of distributional responses to OMZ variability and are the basis for the Wishner et al. (2020) paper (Table S1 in that paper).