Science Sources: Detection and Attribution

Climate Signals tracks detection and attribution studies in real time. Below is an updating database of studies that find the fingerprint of human-caused climate change on observed trends and events. The database is limited to studies of local significance in the United States and studies of global significance. For a broader database of peer-reviewed studies and organizational reports on climate change trends, please see all Science Sources.

Search or browse our collection of detection and attribution studies below, or learn more about detection and attribution studies.

Title Source Date Author(s)
Global Temperatures Over Last 24,000 Years Show Today's Warming 'Unprecedented' Nature Matthew Osman, Jessica Tierney, Jonathan King, Jiang Zhu, Robert Tardif, Gregory J. Hakim, and Christopher J. Poulsen
Attributing physical and biological impacts to anthropogenic climate change Nature Rosenzweig, C., D. Karoly, M. Vicarelli, P. Neofotis, Q. Wu, G. Casassa, A. Menzel, T.L. Root, N. Estrella, B. Seguin, P. Tryjanowski, C. Liu, S. Rawlins, and A. Imeson
Climate change now detectable from any single day of weather at global scale Nature Climate Change Sebastian Sippel, Nicolai Meinshausen, Erich M. Fischer, Enikő Székely, Reto Knutti
Increasing precipitation volatility in twenty-first-century California Nature Climate Change Daniel L. Swain, Baird Langenbrunner, J. David Neelin, Alex Hall
Rapid intensification of the emerging southwestern North American megadrought in 2020–2021 Nature Climate Change A. Park Williams, Benjamin I. Cook & Jason E. Smerdon
Human-induced greening of the northern extratropical land surface Nature Climate Change Jiafu Mao, Aurélien Ribes, Binyan Yan, Xiaoying Shi, Peter E. Thornton, Roland Séférian, Philippe Ciais, Ranga B. Myneni, Hervé Douville, Shilong Piao, Zaichun Zhu, Robert E. Dickinson, Yongjiu Dai, Daniel M. Ricciuto, Mingzhou Jin et al
Human influence on joint changes in temperature, rainfall and continental aridity Nature Climate Change Céline J. W. Bonfils, Benjamin D. Santer, John C. Fyfe, Kate Marvel, Thomas J. Phillips & Susan R. H. Zimmerman
Arctic warming hotspot in the northern Barents Sea linked to declining sea-ice import Nature Climate Change Sigrid Lind, Randi B. Ingvaldsen, Tore Furevik
Attribution of Arctic temperature change to greenhouse-gas and aerosol influences Nature Climate Change Mohammad Reza Najafi, Francis W. Zwiers, Nathan P. Gillett
Anthropogenic forcing dominates global mean sea-level rise since 1970 Nature Climate Change Aimée B. A. Slangen, John A. Church, Cecile Agosta, Xavier Fettweis, Ben Marzeion, Kristin Richter
Attribution of climate extreme events Nature Climate Change Kevin E. Trenberth, John T. Fasullo & Theodore G. Shepherd
California from drought to deluge Nature Climate Change S.-Y. Simon Wang, Jin-Ho Yoon, Emily Becker and Robert Gillies
Anthropogenic contribution to global occurrence of heavy-precipitation and high-temperature extremes Nature Climate Change E. M. Fischer, R. Knutti
Detecting regional anthropogenic trends in ocean acidification against natural variability Nature Climate Change T. Friedrich, A. Timmermann, A. Abe-Ouchi, N. R. Bates, M. O. Chikamoto, M. J. Church, J. E. Dore, D. K. Gledhill, M. González-Dávila, M. Heinemann, T. Ilyina, J. H. Jungclaus, E. McLeod, A. Mouchet, J. M. Santana-Casiano
Detecting anthropogenic footprints in sea level rise Nature Communications Sönke Dangendorf, Marta Marcos, Alfred Müller, Eduardo Zorita, Riccardo Riva, Kevin Berk, Jürgen Jensen
Satellites reveal hotspots of global river extent change Nature Communications
Social inequalities in climate change-attributed impacts of Hurricane Harvey Nature Communications Kevin T. Smiley, Ilan Noy, Michael F. Wehner, Dave Frame, Christopher C. Sampson & Oliver E. J. Wing
Increasing trends in regional heatwaves Nature Communications S. E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick, S. C. Lewis
Anthropogenic and natural warming inferred from changes in Earth’s energy balance Nature Geoscience Markus Huber and Reto Knutti
Changing intensity of hydroclimatic extreme events revealed by GRACE and GRACE-FO Nature Water