The water balance, water resources, and the hydroecological state of the territory of federal subjects (oblasts) and river basins in the Central Federal District of Russia, a region with one of the highest anthropogenic loads on the water element of the environment, are considered. Both local and total (including transboundary water flow) water resources taking into account the runoff coming from neighboring territories, were assessed. The ecological and available for use (total minus ecological) runoff, which can be used without significant damage to aquatic ecosystems, were assessed too. The amount of runoff was determined both in the average long-term aspect and in the low-water years, 75 and 95% probabilities of exceeding. It is shown that the annual normal flow for the period of the end of the 19th century–1960 is much lower than that for 1930–1980. The influence of hydrotechnical transformations and water intake for various economic needs on the amount of runoff is estimated. A significant decrease in water withdrawal after 1985 was revealed. The water-ecological stress in the region was estimated by such indicators as the water stress index, the frequency rate of wastewater dilution, irretrievable water consumption, and water quality. It is shown that the utmost hydroecological stress is observed in the Moscow Oblast, in the basins of Klyazma and Moskva rivers, especially in the Moskva River below Moscow.

The article examines the dynamics of cross-border tourism and developments in the tourism industry in the Russian-Chinese borderland after 2014. Using Blagoveshchensk and Heihe and Khabarovsk and Fuyuan as case studies, the article shows that due to the change in tourist flow structure after the 2014-ruble depreciation, Russian and Chinese border cities have customized their service industry to accommodate Chinese tourists. Mapping of the service sector openness of border cities conducted based on fieldwork data and media materials demonstrates that central districts of border towns concentrate the majority of businesses catering to clients from the neighboring state. This conclusion confirms the role of central districts of border towns as thermometers of cross-border dynamics as they react first to fluctuations in exchange rates and tourist flows. The article provides an overview of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cross-border flows and the tourism industry in the Russian-Chinese borderland and concludes that the earlier reorientation towards domestic tourists allowed Heihe and Fuyuan to be better prepared for a new external shock. The tourism industry in Blagoveshchensk and Khabarovsk, on the contrary, suffered significant losses and found itself in a situation of high uncertainty, where it is hardly possible to predict when Chinese tourists will return.

On the geographic-hydrological basis and the idea of the plain river basins hydrological stratification modern features of the water-biogenic balance in the forest-steppe zone of the Russian Plain are revealed. The influence of the main elements of river basins’ landscape-hydrological structure on the nutrients content in the surface slope runoff has been determined. It is shown that there was no increase in surface slope runoff in spite of the fact that the urbanized territories’ area as well as the area of agricultural lands removed from crop rotations with a higher runoff coefficient than on fields with autumn plowing increased. Climate change has led to the opposite situation—the surface slope runoff since the early 1980s was declining by 69% on the compacted soil and by 77% on loose arable land. The role of the river runoff surface component in the nutrient’s migration has significantly decreased, while, on the contrary, the underground component role increased. Annually surface runoff removes 41% of nitrogen and 48% of phosphorus, and underground runoff 59 and 52%, respectively. The results of calculating the intra-annual distribution of the mineral nitrogen and phosphorus removal with surface and underground runoff from river catchments are presented. An approximate assessment of the annual water-biogenic balance of the Kursk Oblast territory, formed in the last decade, has been carried out. It is shown that the share of natural factors in its incoming part (nitrogen 17%, phosphorus 6%) is significantly less than that of anthropogenic.

For the river basins of the snow-glacial type of runoff formation, a scientific and informational basis developed for calculating components of the annual water balance equation (runoff, precipitation, evaporation, dynamic water reserves). It includes: (a) determination of the average and weighted average parameters of quasihomogeneous glacier groups by structuring or classifying the initial set of N_gl glaciers above the hydrological point; (b) recommendations for calculating specific layers of evaporation and precipitation, and average values of air temperature and water vapor pressure in air as a function of altitude; (c) composition of glacier surface types used for calculating water balance during the ablation period; (d) determining ablation, precipitation, and evaporation volumes for N_gl glaciers; (e) results of calculating the averages for 30-year time intervals of the water balance components, which related for 26 Eurasian river basins with glaciers area ranging from 102 to 14113 km². The deviation of the measured annual runoff from that calculated by the water balance equation ranged from –1.8 to 9.4%.

The Sun rotation around the center of mass of the Solar System is considered as a possible factor of climate fluctuations. Earth follows the Sun in its barycentric motion. It is proposed to evaluate the dynamic effect of this movement on the oscillatory climate system by cyclic changes in the moment of inertia of the barycentric movement of the Sun–Earth pair. Based on the known coordinates of the orbital motion of the giant planets, the annual values of the moment of inertia of the Sun’s motion around the center of mass of the Solar System for 1800–2050 are obtained. We used data on the average annual surface temperature of the oceans at the nodes of the geographic grid of the Earth for 1960–2018. By the method of asynchronous correlation analysis, high significant correlations were found between the moment of inertia of the barycentric movement of the Sun–Earth pair and changes in the average annual temperature of the surface of the World Ocean in places of major ocean currents with a temperature delay of 32–37 years. The best positive correlation coefficients (from 0.4 to 0.7) were observed along the trajectories of cold currents—circumpolar Antarctic current, Peruvian and California currents, and negative (from –0.4 to –0.7) were found in warm currents—East Australian, Kuroshio, North Atlantic, Norwegian. Surface changes in temperature turned out to be most significant at the places where ocean currents cross underwater obstacles (underwater ridges and uplifts of the bottom of the oceans). The contribution of the changes in the motion of the Sun–Earth pair around the center of mass of the Solar System to changes in the temperature of the ocean surface in different parts of the World Ocean comprised from 25 to 50% of its total variability. It is assumed that cyclic changes in the moment of inertia can resonantly affect on the climatic oscillatory system on natural frequencies of climatic system close to the frequencies of external influences.

At the present, the dendrogeomorphological methods are widespread to date the past geomorphic processes. In areas that are poorly studied in this regard, they need to be tested for the effectiveness of their use. The article’s goal is to evaluate the dendrogeomorphological methods of the past geomorphic events dating in the Aktru headwater (the Severo-Chuisky Range, the Russian Altai Mountains). The peculiarities of the methods were considered, and their effectiveness was evaluated for dating the past debris flows and snow avalanches in the debris flow torrent and snow avalanche path. The injury and the radial increment dendroindications were main and anatomical (tree-rings saturated by resin) and age dendroindications were additional. The non-dendrogeomorphological methods of detection and dating of the past geomorphic events (eyewitnesses, soil profiles, radiocarbon analyses, etc.) appeared to be especially useful. The use of all these methods in a complex made it possible to increase both the past events detection and the accuracy and reliability of their dating. In the debris flow torrent, 13 events (6 debris flows, 5 snow avalanches, 1 wildfire, and 1 unidentified event) were dated during 220 years before the present. In the snow avalanche path, 20 avalanches were dated during 65 years before the present.

In the Russian Far East, the maximum catches of commercial crabs (37%) are registered in the North Okhotsk Sea sub-zone. From 2001 to 2017, the total annual crab catches increased at a 40% level and reached 69000 t. In the Prymorie sub-zone, landings of snow crab increased considerably, while in the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, the same pattern was registered for golden king crab and triangle tanner crab. Snow crab catches’ increase and blue king crab catches’ decrease were registered in the western part of the Bering Sea. These changes are associated with high fishing pressure and climate change. In the Northern Basin, commercial crab fisheries of the Russian Federation are supported by two non-indigenous species, red king crab and snow crab. The geography of the red king crab local fishery demonstrated displacement of the fishery outside the 12-mile zone and distribution of main fishing areas from the west to the east. In the last years, the total catches reached 9000–10000 t for king crabs and 8000 t for snow crabs. Positive tendencies in stock parameters let scientists predict further increasing the total allowable catches for both crab species.

The research, conducted in May 2019, of several mountain rivers of Kabardino-Balkaria revealed a large spatial heterogeneity of their waters’ chemical composition as the most important environmental characteristic. This is mainly due to natural factors, namely, differences in their water and material feeding in the highlands and the middle mountains. In the first case, the rivers (Baksan River) are fed by snowfield and glaciers’ meltwater. Their water is low mineralized, with hydrocarbonate-calcium composition. Of the micro-impurities in river water, elements characteristic of both polluted precipitation and drained rocks predominate. In the middle mountains, rivers receive significant feeding from groundwaters, more saturated with chemical elements from the rocks drained by them. The water of these rivers is the most mineralized (rivers Cherek, Gundelen), its composition is dominated by Ca and SO4 (calcium and sulfates). The content of trace elements in the water of these rivers reflects the influence of drained runoff rocks. Trace elements enter the river as an underground tributary, as well as with stormwater floodwaters from the catchment. River waters of the study area dominated by Sr, Fe, Mn, Ba, Zn, Pb, Li, etc. No changes in the composition of trace elements in the water of the Nalchik River downstream city of Nalchik were detected. It was noted the influence of the Tyrnyauz plant on the qualitative composition of the Baksan River’s water. Downstream the city of Tyrnyauz the W and Mo content was increased several times in comparison with the river upper part.

The article presents the results of coastal relief research of the Western Okhotsk region, one of the most poorly studied and hard-to-reach areas of the Sea of Okhotsk. Based on morphodynamic characteristics and the shores’ genetic classification, it has been typified and zoned the coast of the Western Okhotsk region. The factors affecting the coast relief formation are identified. The complex coastal relief is determined by the region’s geological structure, while the river runoff, activity of the ice, and abrasion of the seacoast influence sedimentary material input. It has been established that within the study area, denudation and longshore sediment transit prevail on most of the studied coasts. Sections of modern accumulation are confined to the bays’ tops and the rivers’ mouths. In the event of a possible sea level rise at the abrasion-bay coast, abrasion becomes more active on the capes protruding into the sea. The World Ocean level rise will lead to a significant estuaries’ transformation. Presumably, there will be flooding and erosion of marches and alluvial lowlands. The performed studies can be used in predicting the further region’s economic development, identifying the environmental consequences of an increasing anthropogenic impact on the coast and for recreation.

In June 2019, using the remotely operated underwater vehicle Limnoscout-230, underwater video profiling combined with sonar in the part of the water area between the two large islands of the Valaam-Salma islands arc of Lake Ladoga—Mantsinsaari and Lunkulansaari—was conducted. The work aims to identify and map underwater landscapes of the Lake Ladoga shallow part in the eastern spur area of the Valaam sill of gabbrodolerites between Mantsinsaari and Lunkulansaari islands. The research was conducted using the key sites method. The work result was a digital landscape model, which presents a number of bottom landscapes mapped on a bathymetric basis. To identify the vertical distribution of bottom landscapes, landscape profiles were constructed, on which separate facies were distinguished. The analysis of the horizontal stretch and the spatial ratio of facies allowed us to identify three landscapes within the studied area of the water area. Landscapes were distinguished based on four main components: the geological structure and its associated relief, types of bottom sediments, hydrodynamic regime, and bottom biota. The presented landscape model can be used as a reference for the landscape within the eastern spur of the Valaam sill of the gabbro-dolerites. Information on the area distribution of landscape-forming species of bottom flora and fauna between the Mantsinsaari and Lunkulansaari islands is important for accounting for the biological resources and forage reserves of Lake Ladoga, as well as for studying the spatial characteristics of individual populations.

Stagnation in Russia’s agricultural sector over the past decades has led to a progressive growth in the number of abandoned lands. In many areas of Europe and Asia, invasive species are being introduced on abandoned lands, making certain adjustments to the successional process’s characteristic of regional landscapes. Using the Landsat satellite data archive the analysis of long-term dynamics of the range of invasive goldenrods species on the abandoned lands of the center of the European part of Russia has been carried out. It has been established that in many cases the goldenrods ranges are concentrated along the borders between the administrative units, which is associated with the specifics of arable land abandonment. The geography of goldenrods is also affected by the area’s specific soil cover. It has been confirmed that the biggest splash of the area under the goldenrod on the territory of the research took place in the period from 2006 to 2011, which can be connected with both the successional changes and the increase of the fertility level of the abandoned arable lands, as well as with the climatic changes, which have created more favorable conditions for the expansion of the goldenrods in recent years.

Perspective cylindrical projections in normal aspect are used all over the world. They are described in Russian and foreign literature and included in the list of cartographic projections of most GIS software. However, the oblique perspective cylindrical projections developed in our country in the 1920s are not supported by the most popular cartographic software. This makes it difficult to integrate data into GIS from numerous maps compiled in our country in these projections. To include oblique perspective cylindrical projections into a special library of cartographic projections used by many GIS software, and further use these projections in GIS, a complete description is given in this article. The geometry of the projections is shown. The existing formulas were collected and adapted for GIS and the missing ones were derived, programs for calculation were written in Python. Perspective cylindrical projections of the sphere are supplemented by a transition from the surface of an ellipsoid of revolution to a sphere, which allows using a small-scale map as part of a multiscale GIS as a basis for georeferencing maps of a larger scale. Examples of maps created in oblique perspective cylindrical projections and maps transformed to other projections are given.

The article is devoted to the concept of “polarized landscape” (also known as “polarized biosphere”), developed by the author in 1970. The socioeconomic conditions for the implementation of the conceptual project, as well as changes in these factors and corresponding fundamental concepts over the past half-century are considered. It is shown how the ideal model of the cultural landscape territorial structure is related to the lifestyle of its author; how his ideas about work and leisure formed a picture of a regular network of cities surrounded by buffer functional zones with decreasing population density from the center to the periphery occupied by natural parks and reserves. A big city and wilderness are considered equivalent “poles” of the bio sphere. B.B. Rodoman traces how the transport infrastructure in Russia has changed and how modern transport policy, at least in Moscow and Moscow Oblast, contradicts the ideas of the “polarized biosphere.” At the same time, the growth of territorial contrasts of socioeconomic development leads to the growth of the so-called inner periphery, where the processes of natural landscapes restoration proceed spontaneously as the anthropogenic load decreases. Some polarization of the landscape, favorable for the biosphere, occurs by itself, and this process should not be hindered. The author traces the connection of his concept with classical works on theoretical geography, in particular, with the “Isolated State” by J. von Thünen; talks about the history of the penetration of the “polarized biosphere” into the national geographical science, outlines the ways for the further development of this project.