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The Road in Environmental Science

  • Papers by the RAS Laureates of the 2019 Lomonosov Grand Gold Medal
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Abstract

Long-term work, based on a physical and mathematical approach, that ultimately provided an explanation of a number of empirical and newly discovered laws of natural phenomena and processes, in particular, the energy spectrum of cosmic rays, the Gutenberg–Richter law for earthquakes, other cumulative distributions, and laws of turbulent diffusion pollution on the surface of water, is described. The history of predicting the global consequences of a hypothetical nuclear war using the analogy with global dust storms on Mars is also described. Full scale studies on the physical foundations of the changes in the Earth’s climate, especially on the interaction of cloudiness and radiation, first started at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, USSR Academy of Sciences, in the mid-1980s, are mentioned. At the end of 2017, the author noticed that the works conducted by the outstanding Russian mathematician A.N. Kolmogorov in 1934 make it possible for the first time to explain many natural processes and phenomena: the spectra and features of sea wind waves, the enormous energy of hurricanes, spiral eddies on the surface of seas and oceans, features of the relief of celestial bodies, etc.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is grateful to hundreds of his colleagues, many of whom are no longer alive. I remember them, as well as the role they played in the development of the scientific concepts presented here.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    G. S. Golitsyn

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  1. G. S. Golitsyn
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Correspondence to G. S. Golitsyn.

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Translated by B. Alekseev

RAS Academician Georgii Sergeevich Golitsyn is Head of the Department of Atmospheric Dynamics, Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, RAS, and an RAS Adviser.

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Golitsyn, G.S. The Road in Environmental Science. Her. Russ. Acad. Sci. 91, 1–12 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331621010019

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