The following organizations (in alphabetical order) Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center (ACCC), European Meteorological Society (EMS), Finnish Geophysical Society, Finnish Foundation for Aerosol Research, International Eurasian Academy of Sciences (IEAS), National network  Institute for Atmospheric and Earth system research (INAR / Finland) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have named Professor Bert Holtslag, the Netherlands, as the 1^st recipient of the Sergej Zilitinkevich memorial award. Holtslag gave his Sergej Zilitinkevich’s Award Ceremony Speech on 7^th December in Helsinki. The event was live-streamed online.

Bert Holtslag is Emeritus Professor of Meteorology and former Chair of Meteorology and Air Quality Section at Wageningen University in the Netherlands (period 1999-2019). Bert Holtslag has a large track record in research and leadership of national and international projects and programs dealing with weather, air quality, and climate process studies and modeling. His most notable contributions are related to understanding of atmosphere-land interactions, surface fluxes, and boundary layer processes, with implications to wind energy and urban meteorology. He is also known for co-chairing the GEWEX Atmospheric Boundary Layer Study (GABLS).

The Sergej Zilitinkevich memorial award is an international award that will be delivered annually to a creative scientist who has made breakthroughs in atmospheric sciences or oceanography. Nominations for the award are openly selected within international research networks, particularly those related to Zilitinkevich’s activities. Sergej Zilitinkevich was born on 13 April 1936 in Leningrad, USSR. He graduated from the Leningrad University as a theoretical physicist and made a brilliant scientific career in the theory of geophysical/astrophysical turbulence, physics of the Earth, and planetary atmospheres and hydrosphere. He was a founding member of the multi-year international Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) Programme, which is uniting scientists from Europe, Russia, and China in pursuit of solutions to Grand Challenges, including climate change and environmental pollution.

Zilitinkevich is cited for his pioneering inventions in the physics of turbulence and atmospheric boundary layers, which have expanded our knowledge of the Earth, contributed to progress in weather, climate and air quality forecasting, and led to new directions in research. Sergej Zilitinkevich is an example of a life of service to Science and of having an irresistible desire to understand the surrounding world, striving for a spiritual understanding of the foundations of the Universe and a deep respect for the centuries-old values and traditions of humanity.

Further information
Chair of the Zilitinkevich Award Committee
Academician Markku Kulmala, Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research, University of Helsinki, FI,
markku.kulmala(at)helsinki.fi,  +358 (0)40 596 2311

Secretary of the Zilitinkevich Award Committee
Docent Hanna Lappalainen Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research, University of Helsinki, FI,
hanna.k.lappalainen(at)helsinki.fi, +358 (0)50 434 1710