The Occurrence of Rhopilema verrilli (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa: Rhizostomeae) on Galveston Island, Texas, and a Discussion on Its Distribution in U.S. Waters

A specimen of the rhizostome scyphomedusa Rhopilema verrilli was stranded on the beach at Galveston Island, Texas, in the spring of 1985. Two young specimens have since been collected In the marshes on the north side of Galveston bordering West Galveston Bay. This species Is relatively rare throughout most of Its range and has only been reported once before in the western Gulf of Mexico. Seasonal and geographic distributions from literature records are discussed in relation to temperature, salinity, currents, and life history. Occurrences along the U.S. East Coast Indicate progressively later seasonal appearances and decreased abundances from Georgia to New England. Occurrences In the Gulf of Mexico are almost all limited to the Mississippi Sound area. Collection records suggest that R. verrilli has two centers of distribution, one in southern U.S. East Coast waters and one in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, and that occurrences outside these centers are due to transport by currents. We believe that R. verrilli\u27s apparent rarity in the western Gulf of Mexico results primarily from a combination of wind-driven current patterns, timing of volume of Mississippi-Aatchafalaya River discharge, and temperature-salinlty tolerances of the species acting against transport into, and survival in, the western Gulf

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies