The European Huns had ancient Siberian roots

University of Cologne

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On the River Yelogui, a tributary of the Yenisei in Siberia. A few speakers of a Yenisei language, Ket, still live in the region. The language of the European Huns belonged to the same language family.

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Credit: Edward Vajda

New linguistic findings show that the European Huns had Palaeo-Siberian ancestors and do not, as previously assumed, originate from Turkic-speaking groups. That is the result of a joint study by Dr Svenja Bonmann at the University of Cologne’s Department of Linguistics and Dr Simon Fries at the Faculty of Classics and the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics at the University of Oxford. The results of the study ‘Linguistic evidence suggests that Xiōng-nú and Huns spoke the same Paleo-Siberian language’ have been published in the journal Transactions of the Philological Society.

On the basis of various linguistic sources, the researchers reconstructed that the ethnic core of the Huns – including Attila and his European ruling dynasty – and their Asian ancestors, the so-called Xiongnu, shared a common language. This language belongs to the Yeniseian language family, a subgroup of the so-called Palaeo-Siberian languages. These languages were spoken in Siberia before the invasion of Uralic, Turkic and Tungusic ethnic groups. Even today, small groups who speak a Yeniseian language still reside along the banks of the Yenisei River in Russia.

From the third century BCE to the second century CE, the Xiongnu formed a loose tribal confederation in Inner Asia. A few years ago, during archaeological excavations in Mongolia, a city was discovered that is believed to be Long Cheng, the capital of the Xiongnu empire. The Huns, in turn, established a relatively short-lived but influential multi-ethnic empire in southeastern Europe from the fourth to fifth centuries CE. Research has shown that they came from Inner Asia, but their ethnic and linguistic origins have been disputed until now, as no written documents in their own language have survived. A great deal of what we know about the Huns and the Xiongnu is therefore based on written documents about them in other languages; for example, the term ‘Xiōng-nú’ derives from Chinese.

From the seventh century CE, Turkic peoples expanded westwards. It was therefore assumed that the Xiongnu and the ethnic core of the Huns, whose own westward expansion dates back to the fourth century CE, also spoke a Turkic language. However, Bonmann and Fries have found various linguistic indications that these groups spoke an early form of Arin, a Yeniseian language, in Inner Asia around the turn of the millennium. “This was long before the Turkic peoples migrated to Inner Asia and even before the splitting of Old Turkic into several daughter languages. This ancient Arin language even influenced the early Turkic languages and enjoyed a certain prestige in Inner Asia. This implies that Old Arin was probably the native language of the Xiongnu ruling dynasty,” says Dr Svenja Bonmann from the University of Cologne.

Bonmann and Fries analysed linguistic data based on loan words, glosses in Chinese texts, proper names of the Hun dynasty as well as place and water names. Taken by itself, the data on each of these aspects would have comparatively little significance, but taken together it is hard to argue with the conclusion that both the ruling dynasty of the Xiongnu and the ethnic core of the Huns spoke Old Arin.

The findings of the study also made it possible for the first time to reconstruct how the Huns came to settle in Europe: For the two researchers, place and water names still prove today that an Arin-speaking population once left its mark on Inner Asia and migrated westwards from the Altai-Sayan region. Attila the Hun probably also bears an ancient Arin name: Until now, ‘Attila’ was thought to be a Germanic nickname (‘little father’), but according to the new study, ’Attila’ could also be interpreted as a Yeniseian epithet, which roughly translates as ‘swift-ish, quick-ish’.

The new linguistic findings support earlier genetic and archaeological findings that the European Huns are descendants of the Xiongnu. “Our study shows that alongside archaeology and genetics comparative philology plays an essential role in the exploration of human history. We hope that our findings will inspire further research into the history of lesser-known languages and thereby contribute further to our understanding of the linguistic evolution of mankind,” Dr Simon Fries from the University of Oxford concludes.

For a long time, researchers assumed that the European Huns spoke a Turkic language. New research shows that it was a Palaeo-Siberian language.

Credit

Edward Vajda

Journal

Transactions of the Philological Society

DOI

10.1111/1467-968X.12321 

Method of Research

Case study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Linguistic Evidence Suggests that Xiōng-nú and Huns Spoke the Same Paleo-Siberian Language

Article Publication Date

16-Jun-2025

 

Revealing bias characteristics of cloud diurnal variation to aid climate model tuning and improvement

Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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Schematic representation of cloud fraction diurnal variation over land from multi-year averaged satellite observations and climate model simulations

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Credit: Hongtao Yang

The cloud fraction diurnal variation (CDV) regulates the Earth system’s radiative budget and balance, influencing atmospheric variables such as temperature and humidity, as well as physical processes like precipitation and tropical cyclones. However, significant simulation biases of CDV exist in climate models. To date, most model evaluations have focused on the daily mean cloud fraction (CFR), while the CDV has received less attention.

 

Research led by Guoxing Chen, a research scientist at Fudan University, together with his Master student Hongtao Yang and colleagues, selected a global climate model, FGOALS-f3-L, to reveal the bias characteristics of CDV in this model. Their study was recently published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters under the title “Bias characteristics of cloud diurnal variation in the FGOALS-f3-L model.”

 

By comparing the cloud fraction output from the FGOALS-f3-L model with observational datasets from ISCCP and CERES, the study analyzed the model biases in both CFR and CDV, and quantitatively assessed the contributions of high-, mid-, and low-level cloud biases to the total CDV bias.

 

The results indicate that the daytime low-level cloud fraction is severely underestimated, mostly contributing to the CDV bias to total cloud fraction. Mid- and high-level clouds exhibit opposing biases, which partially offset the contribution of low-level cloud biases. Additionally, the study found that biases in CDV have a significant impact on the model’s simulation of shortwave cloud radiative effects—an impact that can reach or exceed half of that caused by biases in CFR.

 

“The diurnal variation of cloud fraction plays an important role in simulating both cloud characteristics and shortwave cloud radiative effects in climate models and deserves more attention,” says Dr Chen. “Revealing the bias characteristics of cloud diurnal variation can provide targeted guidance for climate model developers to tune and improve the model simulations.”

 

Next, the team will introduce variables such as cloud optical thickness and albedo to quantitatively isolate the contribution of CDV to biases in simulated shortwave cloud radiative effects, and will further analyze the bias-contribution characteristics among different factors.

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Journal

Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters

DOI

10.1016/j.aosl.2025.100636 

 

Tree rings reveal increasing rainfall seasonality in the Amazon

University of Birmingham

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Extreme river flood levels reach several meters depth, as indicated by the darker shade on the bark of this tree from seasonally flooded forests

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Credit: Bruno B L Cintra, University of Birmingham

Scientists have used clues locked into tree rings to reveal major changes in the Amazon’s rainfall cycle over the last 40 years:  wet seasons are getting wetter and dry seasons drier.

Oxygen isotope signals in rings from two Amazon tree species allowed the international research team to reconstruct seasonal changes in rainfall for the recent past.

Publishing their findings today (17 June) in Communications Earth and Environment, the researchers reveal that wet season rainfall has increased by 15 - 22%, and dry season rainfall decreased by 5.8 - 13.5% since 1980.

The study is a result of a collaboration between the Universities of Leeds, Leicester and the National Institute for Amazon Research, in Brazil.

Co-author Dr. Bruno Cintra, now at the University of Birmingham, commented:  "The Amazon is a key component of the Earth's climate system. Understanding how its hydrological cycle is changing is essential for predicting future climate scenarios and developing effective conservation strategies. The upcoming COP30 in Belém, Brazil presents a critical opportunity for world leaders to take decisive action.”

Researchers believe this intensified seasonal cycle is caused by changes in temperatures of the surrounding Atlantic and Pacific oceans influencing the atmospheric circulation. While these changes are partly driven by natural variability, there are also strong indications that anthropogenic climate change plays a role.

Co-author Roel Brienen and Emanuel Gloor, from the University of Leeds, commented: “Our research demonstrates that the Amazon's hydrological cycle is becoming more extreme. Increased wet season rainfall can lead to more frequent and severe flooding, while reduced dry season rainfall exacerbates drought conditions, impacting forest health and biodiversity.”

The study was based on oxygen isotope ratios from tree rings of Cedrela odorata and Macrolobium acaciifolium in the Amazon from 1980 to 2010 to reconstruct past wet and dry season rainfall variability. The researchers linked oxygen isotope changes to large-scale precipitation, estimating long-term rainfall changes and uncertainties using observed data, isotope models, and sensitivity analyses to atmospheric parameters.

Co-author Dr Arnoud Boom, from the University of Leicester, commented: “While traditional climate datasets may underestimate these changes, the tree ring isotope data offer a more integrated, large-scale perspective.

Our unique approach combining oxygen isotope ratios in tree rings from non-flooded (terra firme) and from flooded Amazon forests allowed us to separately estimate wet and dry seasons rainfall trends.”

The Amazon rainforest plays a critical role in global climate regulation, acting as a major carbon sink and participating in global atmospheric patterns. Observed changes in the rainfall cycle could have far-reaching effects on global climate stability.

Co-author Dr Jochen Schöngart from the National Institute for Amazon Research (INPA) in Manaus, Brazil, commented:  “These findings highlight that the Amazon is not simply drying or wetting overall but experiencing more extreme seasonal swings.

“This is of relevant concern as the intensification of the hydrological cycle impacts the functioning of ecosystems, water and food security of millions of traditional and indigenous people. Urgent actions to mitigate climate change and simultaneously adapt the livelihood and traditional management of the populations are required.”

ENDS 

For more information, interviews, or an embargoed copy of the research paper, please contact the Press Office at University of Birmingham on pressoffice@contacts.bham.ac.uk  or +44 (0) 121 414 2772.

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

• Extreme river flood levels reach several meters depth, as indicated by the darker shade on the bark of this tree from seasonally flooded forests (credit Bruno B L Cintra, University of Birmingham).
• Clouds over the Amazon Basin bring moisture from the Atlantic Ocean until the Andes mountains, carrying large-scale climatic information that is recorded in the wood of Amazon trees that take up rainwater (credit Bruno B L Cintra, University of Birmingham).
• Tree ring sample being extracted from trunk (credit: Prof. Roel Brienen, University of Leeds)

Notes to editor:   

• The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 8,000 international students from over 150 countries.
• ‘Independent evidence of hydrological cycle intensification in the Amazon from tree ring isotopes’ - Bruno B. L. Cintra, Emanuel Gloor, Jessica C. A. Baker, Arnoud Boom, Jochen Schöngart, Santiago Clerici, Kanhu Pattnayak, Roel J. W. Brienen is published by Communications Earth and Environment.

University of Leeds

• The University of Leeds is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK, with more than 40,000 students from about 140 different countries. We are renowned globally for the quality of our teaching and research.
• We are a values-driven university, and we harness our expertise in research and education to help shape a better future for humanity, working through collaboration to tackle inequalities, achieve societal impact and drive change. 
• The University is a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, and is a major partner in the Alan Turing, Rosalind Franklin and Royce Institutes www.leeds.ac.uk  

University of Leicester

• The University is led by discovery and innovation – an international centre for excellence renowned for research, teaching and broadening access to higher education. It is among the Top 30 universities in the Times Higher Education (THE)’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 rankings with 89% of research assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent, with wide-ranging impacts on society, health, culture, and the environment.
• In 2023, the University received an overall Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023, making it one of a small number of institutions nationally to achieve TEF Gold alongside a top 30 REF performance. The University is home to more than 20,000 students and approximately 4,000 staff.

 

Clouds over the Amazon Basin bring moisture from the Atlantic Ocean until the Andes mountains, carrying large-scale climatic information that is recorded in the wood of Amazon trees that take up rainwater

Credit

Bruno B L Cintra, University of Birmingham

Tree ring sample being extracted from trunk

Credit

Prof. Roel Brienen, University of Leeds

Journal

Communications Earth & Environment

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Independent evidence of hydrological cycle intensification in the Amazon from tree ring isotopes

Article Publication Date

17-Jun-2025

 

Scientists find unexpected deep roots in plants

New study shows deeper growth underground than previously known, unearthing new questions about the role of roots in storing deep soil carbon

New York University

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Plants and trees extend their roots into the earth in order to draw nutrients and water from the soil—however, these roots are thought to decline as they move deeper underground. But a new study by a multi-institutional team of scientists shows that many plants develop a second, deeper layer of roots—often more than three feet underground—to access additional nourishment. 

Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study reveals previously unrecognized rooting patterns, altering our understanding of how ecosystems

respond to changing environmental conditions. More importantly, the study suggests that plants might transport and store fixed carbon deeper than currently thought—welcome news at a time when CO2 levels are at an 800,000-year high, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s “State of the Global Climate Report” issued in March. 

“Understanding where plants grow roots is vital, as deeper roots could mean safer and longer-term carbon storage. Harsher conditions at depth may prevent detritus-feeding microbes from releasing carbon back to the atmosphere,” says Mingzhen Lu, an assistant professor at New York University’s Department of Environmental Studies and the paper’s lead author. “Our current ecological observations and models typically stop at shallow depths; by not looking deep enough, we may have overlooked a natural carbon storage mechanism deep underground.” 

The research team used data from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) to examine rooting depth. The NEON database includes samples collected from soil 6.5 feet below the surface, far deeper than the one-foot depth of traditional ecological studies. This unprecedented depth allowed researchers to detect additional root patterns, spanning diverse climate zones and ecosystem types from the Alaskan tundra to Puerto Rico’s rainforests.

The scientists’ work focused on three questions—all with the aim of better understanding plants’ resource acquisition strategies and their resilience in response to environmental change: 

• How does the abundance of roots change with depth? 

• What are the factors that impact the distribution of roots with depth? 

• Are nutrients in deeper soils equally, under-, or over-exploited by fine roots compared with surface soil?

The researchers found that nearly 20 percent of the studied ecosystems had roots that peaked twice across depth—a phenomenon called “bimodality.” In these cases, plants developed a second, deeper layer of roots, often more than three feet underground and aligning with nutrient-rich soil layers.This suggests that plants grew—in previously unknown ways—to exploit additional sustenance.

“The current understanding of roots is literally too shallow. Aboveground, we have eagle vision—thanks to satellites and remote sensing. But belowground, we have mole vision,” observes Lu, former Omidyar Fellow who conducted part of this research at the Sante Fe Institute and as a postdoctoral affiliate at Stanford University. “Our limited belowground vision means that we cannot estimate the full ability of plants to store carbon deep in the soil.” 

“Deep plant roots may cause increased soil carbon storage in one condition or lead to losses in other conditions due to a stimulation of soil microbes,” suggests coauthor Avni Malhotra, the lead author of a companion study that investigated the connection between root distribution and soil carbon stock. “This discovery opens a new avenue of inquiry into how bimodal rooting patterns impact the dynamics of nutrient flow, water cycling, and the long-term capacity of soils to store carbon.”

“Scientists and policymakers need to look deeper beneath the Earth’s surface as these overlooked deep soil layers may hold critical keys for understanding and managing ecosystems in a rapidly changing climate,” concludes Lu. “The good news is plants may already be naturally mitigating climate change more actively than we’ve realized—we just need to dig deeper to fully understand their potential.”

The study also included researchers from Boston College, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, the Morton Arboretum, the National Ecological Observatory Network-Battelle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Stanford University.

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-60055-2 

Article Title

A continental scale analysis reveals widespread root bimodality

Article Publication Date

17-Jun-2025

 

Wildfires could be harming our oceans and disrupting their carbon storage

University of British Columbia

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Wildfires pollute waterways and could affect their ability to sequester carbon, recent University of British Columbia research shows.

Dr. Brian Hunt, professor in the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF), and Emily Brown, IOF research scientist, discuss how wildfires affect our waters and what this means in a changing climate.

What did you find about how fire affects water?

BH: We focused on the mighty Fraser River basin. When forests burn, they release ash, soil particles and chemicals into the environment. In a recent study which analyzed water quality and wildfire data, we were able to link increases in the concentrations of compounds like arsenic and lead, as well as nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, to fires which had burned within the river’s basin months prior.

Using monitoring data collected by Environment Canada over the last 20 years, we calculated that up to 16.3 per cent of the variation in water quality could be attributed to wildfires. While that number might seem small, the Fraser River system is large with a lot of natural variation, so being able to attribute that much change to a singular source is surprising.   

Most of the Fraser River is not used for drinking water, and our drinking water is treated, so human health isn’t at risk in that sense. The compounds measured occur naturally in rivers, but our research shows that ongoing increases in the occurrence and intensity of wildfires could impact downstream marine ecosystems. For example, increased wildfire driven nutrient supply can lead to excessive algae blooms, including toxic species, that ultimately lower oxygen and harm fish, shellfish and other animals.

EB:  We also found that fire had both immediate and delayed effects on water quality, depending on how close they are to rivers. Fires in the immediate area of a river influenced water quality more quickly, due to quick mobilization of ash, nutrients and contaminants, while fires further away from rivers showed delayed effects, with their influence on water quality observed up to 12 months later.

The concern is that fire severity and frequency is increasing in this province, which could lead to worsening water quality for the whole ecosystem.

How could wildfires change the ocean’s contribution to climate change?

BH: Black carbon is formed when fires burn the carbon in trees. Black carbon cycles very slowly in the environment, especially the particulate form, and may sequester carbon from the atmosphere when it is buried in the ocean.

EB: In a study earlier this year, we found that there is an important seasonal aspect to this. Most of the water in the Fraser River currently comes from snowmelt, but with climate change, this could shift to being more rain-driven in the future. This change could lead to more rapidly degradable dissolved black carbon being exported to the ocean, which means that this carbon sequestration may lessen in the future and black carbon could become an additional source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

What can we do?

BH: As wildfire frequency and intensity continue to rise in B.C., we need to better understand the cascading effects of fire across systems, and to integrate this knowledge into land, water and climate resilience planning. Knowing that fire plays such a significant role in water quality in this region, and having now identified some of the important indicators of fire effects, will help managers monitor water quality more closely after wildfires. We also need to research the largely unknown effects of fire on coastal ocean ecosystems in B.C.

EB: Fire is the major driver of landscape processes in the Fraser River basin, and Indigenous nations have applied fire to these landscapes for millennia to manage resources and protect their communities. Colonial fire suppression has led to fuel buildup across the province. We need to return B.C. to a more natural fire regime, including by supporting Indigenous-led fire stewardship through increased cultural and prescribed burning, the removal of jurisdictional and permitting barriers, sustained funding for training and equipment, and the establishment of Indigenous-led governance and decision-making structures.

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Journal

Science of The Total Environment

DOI

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179416