ALBERT

Description: Chinese coastal waters support vast fisheries and vital economies, but their productivity is threatened by increasingly frequent harmful algal blooms (HABs). Here we provide direct experimental evidence that atmospheric deposition, along with riverine input, opens new niches for bloom-forming dinoflagellates and diatoms in the East China Sea (ECS) by increasing the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus (N:P), inducing severe P limitation, and altering trace metal micronutrient inventories. Remote sensing analysis of blooms in the region showed that dinoflagellate blooms were associated with increased aerosol optical thickness and decreased sea surface temperature, whereas diatom blooms were primarily associated with seasonally decreased temperature (e.g., during spring blooms). Bottle incubation experiments revealed that aerosol additions approximating 10 days of strong deposition increased iron availability and intensified P limitation, which together promoted dinoflagellate growth in offshore waters. Diatom growth was correlated with elevated trace metal and nutrient content from aerosols. Aerosols did not induce phytoplankton growth at a station within the Yangtze River plume where light was limiting, consistent with remote sensing observations that aerosol effects are stronger in offshore waters. Eutrophication and trace metal enrichment from Yangtze River discharge together with atmospheric deposition may underlie the transition from diatom-dominated spring blooms toward more frequent spring and summer dinoflagellate blooms that has occurred over the past three decades in the ECS.

Description: This review article aims to provide an overview and insight into the most relevant aspects of wind energy development and current state-of-the-art. The industry is in a very mature stage, so it seems to be the right time to take stock of the relevant areas of wind energy use for power generation. For this review, the authors considered the essential aspects of the development of wind energy technology: research, modeling, and prediction of wind speed as an energy source, the technology development of the plants divided into the mechanical and electrical systems and the plant control, and finally the optimal plant operation including the maintenance strategies. The focus is on the development in Europe, with a partial focus on Germany. The authors are employees of the Fraunhofer Institutes, Institute for Energy Economics and Energy Systems Technology and Institute for Wind Energy Systems, who have contributed to the development of this technology for decades.