Northern Land Research Articles

Gerhard Mercator as Sacred Geographer

Mercator’s Description of the Northern Lands (Septentrionalium terrarum descriptio), a map of the North Pole, appeared in his Atlas published in 1595. Despite returning to his research on magnetism and the geography of the Far North over the course of five decades, Mercator struggled to reconcile discrepancies in his data. This paper presents the various quantitative and qualitative methods Mercator used to grapple with uncertainty about the north, including relying on textual descriptions in historical travel narratives, comparing portolan charts and Ptolemaic maps, consulting studies by his contemporaries, and compiling compass readings. Although Mercator’s exploration of multiple approaches did not yield the geographic or magnetic certainty he sought, he designed a map that projected certitude. This paper argues that in the absence of geographical information and clarity about magnetism and the geography of the north, Mercator turned to theological reasoning to form a hypothesis about the North Pole as Paradise. It shows, too, that Mercator’s dual aim of describing both the physical and the sacred landscape of the Far North was gradually erased by his successors, thus obscuring the fact that his religious worldview informed his understanding and mapping of the Far North.

Spatiotemporal variability of leaf critical senescence age across northern lands and its key drivers

Leaf senescence, a pivotal phenological event, signifies the aging of vegetation canopies and triggers abrupt shifts in various biogeochemical processes. However, the spatiotemporal pattern of leaf senescence age and its primary driving factors across northern lands remains unclear. In this study, we introduced a concept termed leaf critical senescence age (CSA) to characterize the initiation of senescence stage, which quantifies the time span between the onset dates of vegetation growth and senescence. Then, utilizing long-term remote sensing vegetation index data, we investigated the spatiotemporal variations of leaf CSA over northern lands (>30°N). Spatially, leaf CSA displayed extensive variability (ranging from 42 to 263 days), with an average of 146 ± 32 days. Deciduous broadleaf forests exhibited the longest CSA (177 ± 28 days), while shrublands demonstrated the shortest (121 ± 22 days). Temporally, most plant functional types experienced a reversal in leaf CSA trends around 2010, leading to the contrasting trends between 1982–2010 (+0.21 days/year) and 2010–2015 (−2.36 days/year) across northern lands. Further random-forest regression and partial correlation analysis together indicated that temperature was the dominant factor driving spatiotemporal variations in leaf CSA. These findings suggest that climate warming is reshaping the geographical pattern of leaf senescence age, posing great uncertainty to future projections of terrestrial feedback to climate change.

Characteristics of the Arctic nature in the perception of a child in the children's prose written by Semyon Tumat

Significant interest in the Arctic zone of Yakutia emerged at the end of the 20th century, when alluvial diamond deposits were discovered and began to be developed. The Arctic also has great prospects for hydrocarbons. At the present time there is a struggle for the development of natural resources of the Arctic, in this connection the relevance of the Arctic theme in Yakut literature as a whole increases. The Arctic is a mysterious, harsh northern land, which at the same time is very beautiful and dangerous. The land of White Silence fascinated and attracted explorers, travellers and romantics. Not only masters of words, but also artists, pedagogues, philosophers turned their eyes to the world of childhood as an integral part of people's life. Memories of childhood spent in the harsh northern land, of its courageous inhabitants - reindeer herders, hunters, fishermen - became the material for the literary works of the national writer of Yakutia, poet, prose writer Semyon Andreevich Popov-Tumat. In the works of the writer we get acquainted with the difficult life of the indigenous people of the North with their traditions, ways of life, with their feelings and dreams. We have analysed cycles of children's proses written by Semyon Tumat. In the stories of the writer contains a lot of cognitive information about the life of a simple man, a northerner, a master, transforming this harsh land and the amazing country of snow, endless sky, illuminated by the polar lights, the wonderful world of the Arctic. S. Tumat's prose does not glorify tenderness or mercy. In the works of the writer the most important themes are: the theme of childhood, upbringing, family, faith, willpower, the theme of nature, friendship and love. However, love for his native northern land, parents, the world of the Arctic appears in the works of a strong feeling, imprinted forever on the heroes. Semyon Andreevich approached to the disclosure of this issue individually; thinking over the style and details of the narrative, composition of the works, character and psychology of the heroes.

A review to the Desert Kite: State of the Art!

Although from the beginning of the historical period, known as the emergence of the writing, it has not passed more than several thousand years, but the history of human evolution can be rooted in an era much older than the one seen: in the age of the hunting-gathering culture! Hunter-gatherer culture was the way of life for early humans until around 11,000 to 12,000 years ago. The lifestyle of huntergatherers was based on hunting animals and foraging for food. Desert kites could be mentioned as a probable transition key from the age of hunting-gathering food to pastoralism, which can be dated today with the development of cosmogenesis and luminescence methods. ‘Desert kites’ are stone constructions made of two long low walls called antennae that converge into an enclosure flanked or not by several small cells. Their shape and archeological evidence suggest that these extensive stone structures may have functioned as game traps, designed to capture and kill large numbers of wild animals. The kite is a landmark that reveals a way of occupying territory. It is an architectural feature of social groups, which hence left a reflection of their territory and catchment. However, these people have sometimes left very few traces enabling their identification. Considering the extent and density of these settlements, the kite is a massive phenomenon whose role was probably crucial in the development of societies in arid regions. It has been seen from the eastern Mediterranean to the eastern Caspian, which suggested finding less of the same structure in the Iranian plateau, as the only suitable linkage, when the northern lands were nearly frozen! Thus, the perspective is reversed from traditional archaeological research, where groups are most often identified by their domestic settlements, with their still undefined modes of subsistence. Kites, as a phenomenon, are therefore a challenge for the archaeology that requires creative and novel approaches.

EASTER SPRING SONGS IN THE INTERFLUVE OF THE LOWER PRIPYAT, UZH AND TETERIV RIVERS

The northern lands of the modern Kyiv region, located between the Pripyat, Uzh, and Teteriv rivers in their downstream, historically and geographically belong to Polissia. Ethnographers rightly consider this territory a reserve of ancient Slavic traditions. In the life of local residents, various calendar rites of pre-Christian origin continued to function until the beginning of the 21st century. Among all the calendar seasons, spring was particularly diverse. Rituals and spring songs changed at different stages of the spring season and reflected the state of nature and the aspirations of people, first of all young people: first to summon spring, and later to activate its signs.
 The article is devoted to consideration of the songs of the middle phase of spring in this territory – from the Easter holiday to the Trinity. They are noticeably different from the songs сalling for spring at the beginning of the season. The girls did not just sing Easter songs, but accompanied them with a ritual dance, roundelays. They held each other`s hands and moved in a circle or along a sinuous line, and sometimes imitated work in the field using special gestures. The content of these songs is wide – from children's game plots to small performances on the topic of relations between a boy and a girl. Songs also differ in musical features. The song material in the article is presented according to the rhythmic-structural typology principles. Songs were recorded by the author in the years 1979–2007. At the end of the article, music samples are provided (transcribed by the author). Abbreviations mean the names of the districts of the Kyiv region for the time of recording (Pls = Polisky district, Chnb = Chornobylskyi district, Ivn = Ivankivskyi district). Song forms are encoded using system of special characters developed by I. Klymenko (2008; 2020).

Extreme rainfall events variation during 1860–1909 in the Korean Peninsula: Investigation of the possible circulation mechanism by a method of analogue

In the present paper, we made an investigation of extreme rainfall events for 1860―1909 in the Korean Peninsula, and the possible atmospheric circulation state by comparing recent rainfall variability with atmospheric circulation indices. In the present study, very significant historical rainfall records and flood damage records since the mid-19th century, modern rainfall records and global climate reanalysis data were applied. Results show: (1) Pentad extreme rainfall events had undergone a clear decrease, with an abrupt falling after shifting point of 1879―1880. (2) The monthly frequencies of extreme rainfall events revealed remarkable descent trends for June–October, which changed from 29 time/pentad to 7.3 time/pentad on average, especially for July–September. (3) Almost all climate zones except for northern land displayed significant decreasing trends, nevertheless no clear incidence of extreme rainfall event was found over the typical pluvial regions. (4) Through an analogue method by comparing the extreme precipitation weather and the atmospheric mechanism for recent decades (1961―2016), we suggested that West Pacific Subtropical High had experienced a strengthen change for the past period and the typhoon-related torrential rain processes had been suppressed for the study area, and the upper air jet stream might have been displaced poleward during 1860―1909. This study made a first investigation of the extreme rainfall events since the mid-19th century applying both instrumental and documental records in the study area, and some significant findings were obtained, which will help in understanding extreme climate variability and its mechanism of late 19th century and early 20th century in the Korean Peninsula.

Land Surface Temperature Sensitivity to Changes in Vegetation Phenology Over Northern Deciduous Forests

AbstractChanges in vegetation phenology are important contributors to seasonal climate change over the northern land surface. However, the biogeophysical effects of phenological shifts on land surface temperature (LST) remain uncertain. Here, we demonstrated the sensitivity of LST to advanced start of growing season (SOS) and delayed end of growing season (EOS) during corresponding green‐up and senescence periods over northern deciduous forests. Moreover, the mechanism responsible for LST sensitivity was assessed by quantifying the contributions of biogeophysical properties to LST sensitivity by applying a two resistance mechanism method to an experimental set using Community Land Model version 5. LST sensitivities to advanced SOS and delayed EOS were −2.1 × 10−2 K day−1 and −2.8 × 10−2 K day−1, respectively, indicating cooling effects by phenological shifts. The different responses of the aerodynamic resistance to SOS and EOS could explain the higher LST sensitivity to EOS than that to SOS. The decrease in the aerodynamic resistance in response to delayed EOS was three times larger than that to advanced SOS, thereby inducing a larger surface cooling effect during senescence period through enhanced turbulent heat transfer. Thus, the reduced aerodynamic resistance could explain the cooling effect of the phenological shift, which is an important consideration for projecting seasonal climate change.

Land cover and water quality of drowned river mouths: Evidence of an environmental gradient along the eastern Lake Michigan shoreline

Lake Michigan’s drowned river mouths (DRM) are hydrologically unique systems with both riverine and large-lake influences. Serving as focal points for human development, DRMs have experienced a history of industrialization, urbanization, and are now moving towards an era of restoration and revitalization. The goal of this study was to examine water quality in 12 DRMs along Lake Michigan’s eastern shoreline. We hypothesized that there is a latitudinal gradient in indicators of water quality in these DRM lakes, which is the result of natural land cover, anthropogenic land use, and underlying geology. We identified a latitudinal gradient in land use/land cover with developed land area more abundant in southern DRMs and forest more abundant in northern land area; this distinction was evident at both the local and whole watershed geographic scales but was more distinct at the local scale. Water quality followed suit with specific conductance, chlorophyll-a, and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations higher in southern DRMs and lower in northern DRMs; whereas, Secchi disk depth showed the opposite trend. Multivariate analysis results were consistent with the relationship of water quality and latitudinal gradient. Thermal stratification and low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations in the hypolimnion were more common in deeper (i.e., greater than 4 m) areas of DRMs; low DO in the hypolimnion was more likely in southern DRMs than in northern DRMs. These results provide a foundation for future research initiatives in helping separate anthropogenic vs. natural stress in these systems, which provide critical ecosystem services for their surrounding communities.

AUKUS and India's Indo-Pacific Strategy

The rollout of AUKUS represents a tectonic shift in the geopolitical rivalry between China and other Indo-Pacific nations. The coming together of three major democratic countries in a strategic technology pact to counter the authoritarian China in the Indo-Pacific could not have come at a more opportune time for India, which is facing increasing Chinese hostility on its northern land borders and strategic encirclement in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). This article discusses AUKUS's potential impacts on India and examines India's Indo-Pacific strategy, its participation in the Quad, and its naval strategy. I argue that, on balance, AUKUS's benefits for India far outweigh its costs.

The Role of Lyrics in Estonian Literature: Three Exemplary Cases

Song lyrics are usually positioned in the margins of literature and tend not to be in the first line when writers and their works are discussed. There have been debates about whether to consider lyrics as literature and/ or ‘real poetry’. The article examines three cases in Estonian literature where melodised poetic texts have played a significant role in Estonian culture and are considered to be core texts: “Mu isamaa on minu arm” (My Fatherland is My Love) by Lydia Koidula, songs from the feature film Viimne reliikvia (The Last Relic), lyrics written by Paul-Eerik Rummo, and “Laul Põhjamaast” (“Song of the Northern Land”), lyrics by Enn Vetemaa. These also represent three ways a text can function: “Mu isamaa on minu arm” was first written and published as a poem and later set to music; The Last Relic represents a case where texts were initially written as lyrics and later published in a collection of poems; “Song of the Northern Land”, by Enn Vetemaa, was meant to be and has remained a song and has not been included in poetry collections.

“We Thought It Would Last Forever”

Although mine closures are an inherent feature of extractive industry, they tend to receive less attention in the literature on deindustrialization than the closures of manufacturing and other heavy industries. Until recently, the settler-colonial context of hinterland mineral development and its impact on northern Indigenous lands and communities in Canada have also remained largely unexplored within this literature. Mineral development is historically associated with the introduction of a colonial-capitalist industrial modernity across Canada’s northern regions. Yet the boom-and-bust nature and ultimate ephemerality of mineral development has meant that resource-extractive regions have also been subject to intensive “cyclonic” periods of closure and deindustrialization. This article examines the experience of deindustrialization on the part of the Inuit community of Arctic Bay, who were largely “left behind” by the closure of Nanisivik, Canada’s first High Arctic mine. Through documentary sources and oral history interviews we illustrate how, for Arctic Bay Inuit who were engaged in the cyclonic economies of Nanisivik’s development and closure, there were myriad dimensions of social loss, displacement, and resentment associated with the failure of this industrial enterprise to deliver promised benefits to Inuit, beyond more commonly understood socioeconomic impacts such as job loss.

The applicability of previously developed land use planning activities during the implementation of the Arctic hectare program

The purpose of the article is to investigate whether it is possible in modern conditions to use the previously performed land use planning activities in the northern regions of the country – in particular, during the implementation of the state program "Arctic Hectare", which is designed to include unused land plots in economic turnover. It is concluded that such development is in demand, but the disorganization of the land management service reduces the possibility of achieving an optimal balance of interests of northern land users and maximizing the potential of these territories.

Simultaneous multi-crop land suitability prediction from remote sensing data using semi-supervised learning

Land suitability models for Canada are currently based on single-crop inventories and expert opinion. We present a data-driven multi-layer perceptron that simultaneously predicts the land suitability of several crops in Canada, including barley, peas, spring wheat, canola, oats, and soy. Available crop yields from 2013–2020 are downscaled to the farm level by masking the district level crop yield data to focus only on areas where crops are cultivated and leveraging soil-climate-landscape variables obtained from Google Earth Engine for crop yield prediction. This new semi-supervised learning approach can accommodate data from different spatial resolutions and enables training with unlabelled data. The incorporation of a crop indicator function further allows for the training of a multi-crop model that can capture the interdependences and correlations between various crops, thereby leading to more accurate predictions. Through k-fold cross-validation, we show that compared to the single crop models, our multi-crop model could produce up to a 2.82 fold reduction in mean absolute error for any particular crop. We found that barley, oats, and mixed grains were more tolerant to soil-climate-landscape variations and could be grown in many regions of Canada, while non-grain crops were more sensitive to environmental factors. Predicted crop suitability was associated with a region’s growing season length, which supports climate change projections that regions of northern Canada will become more suitable for agricultural use. The proposed multi-crop model could facilitate assessment of the suitability of northern lands for crop cultivation and be incorporated into cost-benefit analyses.

WITH A SAMPLE CASE FROM THE BATTLE HISTORY, A TINY SAMPLE ON ANCIENT TURKIC-SINO RELATIONS: BATTLE OF NUOZHEN RIVER (诺真水之战)

Nuo-zhen savaşı, Orta Asya Türk tarihinin önemli bir kesitini oluşturan Xueyantuo (Sir Tarduş; Seyanto) Hanlığının taraf olduğu bir savaştır. Her ne kadar tarihsel anlamda kısa bir süreliğine varlık göstermiş olsalar da Doğu Türk Kağanlığının yıkılması ve daha sonra Batı Türk Kağanlığının güçlenmesi sürecine kadar geçen evrede önemli ve tarihi bir görev üstlenmiştir. Doğu Türk Kağanlığının yıkılması aşamasında Tang hanedanlığının kurucu hükümdarı Li Yuan ile iş birliği yapmışlardır. Tanglar ile iş birliği yaparak soydaşları olmanın dışında egemenliği altında da oldukları Doğu Türk kağanlığını dağıtmışlardır. Bu olay ile dağılan Doğu Türk Kağanlığı halkları içinde en güçlü olanı olarak öne çıkmış, ve Yi-shi-bo (乙失鉢) öncülüğünde bağımsız olup kendi ayakları üzerinde durma çabalarına başlamış, Yinan Kağan ile de bu çabaları doruk noktasına ulaşmıştır. Daha sonra, Yinan Kağan’ın, Tang hanedanlığı ile kuruduğu temas ile Doğu Türk Kağanlığına başkaldırıları sonuç vermiş ve Doğu Türk Kağanlığı dağılmıştır. Bu süreçle başlayan Tang-Xueyantuo yakınlaşması bir müddet barış ve karşılıklı güven ortamı içinde sürüp gitmiştir. Ancak daha sonra, siyasi ve askeri anlamda güçlenen Xueyantuolar, kuzey topraklarında yaşadıkları alan ile yetinmemeye başlamış ve her kuzey halkının beslediği güdü ile güney topraklarına karşı iştah kabartmıştır. Bunun neticesinde ikili ilişkiler bozulmaya başlamıştır. Xueyantuolar’ın güney topraklarına saldırıya geçmeleriyle ilişkiler tamamen yerle yeksan olmuş ve her iki güç günümüz iç Moğolistan eyaleti Tuo-ke-tuo (托克托) ilçesine denk gelen bölgede Nuo-zhen ırmağı (诺真水) savaşı olarak tarihe geçmiş olan savaşı yapmışlardır. Bu çalışma öncelikle Tang Hanedanlığı ve Xueyantuolar’ın Nuo-zhen savaşına kadar olan süreçlerini ele almaktadır. Daha sonra da Nuo-zhen savaşının sebepleri, sonuçları ve bu savaş hakkında genel bilgiler sunmaktadır.

Modernization of villages in the Western and Northern Lands of People’s Poland in sociological reflection

Modernization of villages in the Western and Northern Lands of People’s Poland in sociological reflection

Influences of Regional Cultural Breaks and Migration Processes on Children’s and Winter Calendar and Ritual Song Folklore of Kirovohrad Oblast

Kirovohrad Oblast, founded in 1939, is situated in the central part of Ukraine, on the right bank of the Dnipro. The southern center of Ukraine, in particular the territory of Kirovohrad Oblast, has been settled quite late, in the 17th–18th centuries. The conglomeration of East-Podillian, Central-Ukrainian and Trans-Dnieper singing has formed a specific folklore zone here. Resettlers from the northern and western lands have also brought well-preserved folklore traditions to these lands. They have formed a peculiar marginal culture here, which is defined by a number of distinctive features in the folklore works of the region. We consider them after the sources of children’s and winter calendar-ritual folklore. Only some versions of ancient lullabies have been recorded in the Kirovohrad Oblast. The lullabies of the Eastern type predominate on the rest of the territories, although there are also Western ones, recorded from the resettlers mainly. Ancient lullabies from the Podillian part of Kirovohrad Oblast have a syncopated Western-type chant. Eastern-type lullabies of Kirovohrad Oblast differ in their textual and melodic variety. On the melodic side, lullabies of the Eastern type belong mainly to the song-recitative type. The melody is dominated by the repetition of one chant-formula of the ascending-descending type, which contributes to lulling the child with its monotony. In the recordings of eastern lullabies from a resettled woman from the Chornobyl zone of the Zhytomyr region, we observe a significant melismatic enrichment of formulaic intonations. In the western, Podillian regions of Kirovohrad Oblast, samples of children’s folklore are distinguished by dialectal peculiarities of the language. Published works and modern expeditionary records of children’s koliadky and shchedrivky are the evidence of the distribution of such songs as Koliadnytsia, Koliadnytsia, Shchedrivochka Shchedruvala on the territory of the region. Children’s sowing songs have become especially popular. The motifs of Illia walking on Vasyl, who wears a magical rye peacock (whip) are introduced into them from the northern regions. The historical situation in the Kirovohradshchyna, and partly the cultural policy of the last century, have influenced the existence of winter calendar and ritual song folklore here perniciously. Only a few examples of secular carols and shchedrivky have been recorded in the region. At the same time, winter songs of the Gospel themes are more preserved in church and folk usage. In general, the repertoire of koliadky and shchedrivky of the Kirovohrad region is preserved to a greater extent in the western, Podillian districts, where the koliadky prevail, and only fragmentarily, much more modestly, in the central part of the region, where the shchedrivky predominate. The peculiarities of the folklore tradition of the region consist in the inclination of the bearers of folk songs for numerous contaminations of various types. We have observed this phenomenon by the way of example of recordings of children’s and winter calendar-ritual song folklore because of its border location between the Trans-Dnieper, Steppe and Podillia zones. There is the inclination of the bearers of folk songs to numerous contaminations of various types. The enrichment of the song folklore of the Kirovohrad Oblast is introduced due to the migratory waves of various times, starting from the period of intensive settlement of the region to modern processes of emigration because of the natural causes, man-made disasters and military actions. Thanks to the recordings of the expeditions of the Baba Yelka project during the 2018–2022, it is possible to study the peculiarities of functioning of the song folklore of the region in the latest times.

A baseline survey of the geochemical characteristics of the Arctic soils of Alexandra Land within the Franz Josef Land archipelago (Russia)

The compositions of soils and their parent materials were studied within one of the most northern land areas of the world — the island of Alexandra Land of the Franz Josef Land archipelago. Contents of 65 trace and major elements were determined using atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma spectrometry (ICP-MS). Other analyzed characteristics included soil pH, particle-size distribution and contents of carbon and nitrogen. The bedrock had an alkaline pH, whereas the soil pH ranged from weakly acid to alkaline. The textural class of the soils predominantly corresponded to sandy loam. The contents of clay and silt increased with depth due to the migration of these fractions with groundwater. The studied soils were formed on basalts with high contents of MgO, Fe2O3, TiO2, Cu, Co, V, Ni, Cr, Zn, and low contents of Pb and Hg. The present study confirms that the FJL basalts are similar to the Siberian Platform basalts in composition and belong to the continental basalt series. The composition of soils was generally similar to that of the bedrock. Compared to other Arctic archipelagos (i.e., Svalbard, Severnaya Zemlya), the soils of Alexandra Land are characterized by increased contents of Cu, Mn, Co, and Fe and reduced contents of Hg, Pb, and Cd. The median concentrations (mg kg−1) of trace elements in the soils were as follows: Cu—142, Zn—100, Ni—72, Pb—2.4, Cd—0.1, and Hg—0.0052. The low contents of Hg, Pb, and Cd in the soils are indicative of low inputs of these elements from both long-range transport and local sources of pollutants.

Assessing Changes in Boreal Vegetation of Kola Peninsula via Large-Scale Land Cover Classification between 1985 and 2021

The effective monitoring of boreal and tundra vegetation at different scales and environmental management at latitudes above 50 degrees North relies heavily on remote sensing. The vastness, remoteness and, in the case of Russia, the difficulty of access to boreal–tundra vegetation make it an ideal technique for vegetation monitoring in the Kola peninsula, located predominantly beyond the Arctic circle in the European part of Russia. Since the 1930s, this area has been highly urbanised and exposed to strong influence by a number of different types of human impact, such as toxic pollutions, fires, mineral excavation, grazing, logging, etc. Extensive open archives of remote sensing imagery as well as recent advances in machine learning further enable the efficient use of remote sensing methods for assessing land cover changes. Here, we present the results of mapping northern vegetation land cover and changes in it over a large territory, in time and under human impact based on remote imagery from Landsat TM, ETM+ and OLI. We study the area of about 37,000 km2 located in the central part of the Kola peninsula in the boreal, pre-tundra and tundra between 1985 and 2021 with a time interval of approximately 5 years and confirm the correlations between the human pressure and the level of vegetation changes. We put those into the perspective of year-on-year changes in the temperature and precipitation regimes and describe the recovery of the damaged original boreal vegetation (dominated by spruce) through pine and deciduous vegetation. As a by-product of this study, we develop and test an approach for the semi-automated processing and classification of Landsat images using the novel TensorFlow machine learning technique (widely spread across other disciplines) that enables high-throughput classification, even on conventional hardware.

Large-scale climate response to regionally confined extratropical cooling: effect of ocean dynamics

This study investigates the effect of ocean dynamics on the tropical climate response to localized radiative cooling over three northern extratropical land regions using hierarchical model simulations that vary in the degree of ocean coupling. Without ocean dynamics, the tropical climate response is independent of the extratropical forcing location, characterized by a southward tropical precipitation shift with a high degree of zonal symmetry, a reduced zonal sea surface temperature gradient along the equatorial Pacific, and the eastward-shifted Walker circulation. When ocean dynamical adjustments are allowed, the zonal-mean tropical precipitation shift is damped primarily via Eulerian-mean ocean heat transport. The oceanic damping effect is strongest (weakest) for North Asian (American) cooling, associated with the largest (smallest) Eulerian-mean ocean heat transport across the equatorial Pacific. The cross-equatorial ocean heat transport in the Pacific is anchored to the North Pacific subtropical high, the response of which can be inferred from the corresponding slab ocean simulations. Hence, the slab ocean simulations provide useful a priori prediction for oceanic damping efficiency. Ocean dynamics also modulates the spatial pattern of climate response in a distinct manner depending on the zonal distribution of imposed forcing. North Asian forcing induces a pronounced eastern equatorial Pacific cooling extending to the western basin, accompanying the westward shifted Walker circulation. European forcing causes cooling confined to the eastern equatorial Pacific and strengthens the Walker circulation. The tropical precipitation response in these two cases exhibits large zonal variations with a high degree of equatorial symmetry, being essentially uncorrelated with the corresponding slab ocean simulations. By contrast, North American forcing induces a sufficiently strong inter-hemispheric contrast in the tropical Pacific SST response, due to the relatively weak oceanic damping effect, producing a weaker but spatially similar tropical response to that in the slab ocean simulation. This study demonstrates that the effect of ocean dynamics in modulating the tropical climate response depends on the extratropical forcing location. The results are relevant for understanding the distinct climate response induced by aerosols from different continental sites.

SLAB GRAVE BURIAL CULTURE AND THE HUN (XIONGNU) CONNECTION

The oldest state known to have been founded by the ancestors of the Turks is the Asian Hun State. The earliest records on the Huns date back to 2070 BC and are based on the legendary story of the Xia Hou Dynasty, of which the first known ruler was Chunwei. In Chinese sources, separate from this legend, the nomads who came from the north and raided Chinese lands were called Rong, Di, Shan Rong, Quan Yi, and Quan Rong. Accordingly, the ancestors of the Huns were called Northern Di in general, Xunyu in the Xia period, Guifang in the Yin period, Xianyun in the Zhou period and Xiongnu in the Han period. Of these, the Rong and Di were relocated west of the Yellow River after they were defeated by the Zhou Dynasty, and they were divided into two as Red Di and White Di. The Rong, Di and Yi tribes are mentioned in the northern lands of China before 771-481 BC. One of the tribes mentioned in Chinese sources and subjugated by Modu is the Dinglings who were later referred to as Toles in Turkic inscriptions. During the northern and western expeditions of Modu in 201 BC, it was named for the first time with the Kyrgyz. They were recorded by Chinese sources as having settled around Baikal Lake as nomadic people. This is the main subject of our article. It is stated by many researches that the ancestors of the Dinglings are the community who created the Andronovo Culture. Starting from the Bronze Age and continuing throughout the Iron Age, shallow slabs of wide granite were placed around graves, a tradition which seems to have spread as far as the Orkhun region. The graves of this cultural period which date back to 1000 BC and are thought to have connections with the Karasuk Culture on the one hand and the Glazkov Culture on the other hand. They are of great importance, especially since they were also utilized by the Huns. Their developments beyond Khakassia are very important since those are the lands where they were last seen after Andronovo Culture. Although scholars have rejected the claim that the Huns are the ancestors of the Mongols, in terms of anthropological and material culture Huns have connections with the nomadic Europoids of the Baikal and Yenisey region. In this respect, cultural development continued towards Baykal and Otuken. With this study, we will discuss the period of Slab Grave Culture or Flat Stone Grave Culture, which has not yet been specifically studied in Turkey. Through this analysis, we will reveal important links with the Huns and other pre-cultures, then reveal their relations in terms of burial culture and material remains. In this respect, the connections of the Andronovo, Begaz Dandybai, Karasuk and Slab Grave and the characteristics of the Hun graves and cultural continuity in the directions of the area extending from the Kazakhstan, Yenisey and Baykal triangle to Mongolia will be elaborated upon. Cultural continuity will also be shown in terms of material remains, especially the tomb structure style. According to Chinese sources, there is plenty to learn about the early Turkic tribes’ presence in this region.