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)
Record-Setting Ocean Warmth Continued in 2019 Advances in Atmospheric Sciences Lijing Chengm, John Abraham, Jiang Zhu, Kevin E. Trenberth, John Fasullo,Tim Boyer, Ricardo Locarnini, Bin Zhang, Fujiang Yu, Liying Wan, Xingrong Chen, Xiangzhou Song, Yulong Liu, and Michael E. Mann
Another Record: Ocean Warming Continues through 2021 despite La Niña Conditions Advances in Atmospheric Sciences Lijing Cheng, John Abraham, Kevin E. Trenberth, John Fasullo, Tim Boyer, Michael E. Mann, Jiang Zhu, Fan Wang, Ricardo Locarnini, Yuanlong Li, Bin Zhang, Zhetao Tan, Fujiang Yu, Liying Wan, Xingrong Chen, Xiangzhou Song, Yulong Liu, et al.
Anthropogenic Influence on Long Return Period Daily Temperature Extremes at Regional Scales American Meteorological Society Francis W. Zwiers, Xuebin Zhang and Yang Feng
Seasonal Climate Variability and Change in the Pacific Northwest of the United States American Meteorological Society John T. Abatzoglou, David E. Rupp and Philip W. Mote
Evidence that Recent Warming is Reducing Upper Colorado River Flows AMS Earth Interactions Gregory J. McCabe
Detection and Attribution of Streamflow Timing Changes to Climate Change in the Western United States AMS Journal of Climate H. G. Hidalgo, T. Das, M. D. Dettinger, D. R. Cayan, D. W. Pierce, T. P. Barnett, G. Bala, A. Mirin, A. W. Wood, C. Bonfils, B. D. Santer, and T. Nozawa
Attribution of extreme events in Arctic sea ice extent AMS Journal of Climate Megan C. Kirchmeier-Young
Toward Regional-Scale Climate Change Detection AMS Journal of Climate Francis W. Zwiers and Xuebin Zhang
Anatomy of an Extreme Event AMS Journal of Climate Martin Hoerling, Arun Kumar, Randall Dole, John W. Nielsen-Gammon, Jon Eischeid, Judith Perlwitz, Xiao-Wei Quan, Tao Zhang, Philip Pegion, and Mingyue Chen
Attributing Causes of 2015 Record Minimum Sea-Ice Extent in the Sea of Okhotsk AMS Journal of Climate Seungmok Paik, Seung-Ki Min, and Yeon-Hee Kim
Detection of human influence on a new, validated 1500-year temperature reconstruction AMS Journal of Climate Gabriele C. Hegerl, Thomas J. Crowley, Myles Allen, William T. Hyde, Henry N. Pollack, Jason Smerdon, and Eduardo Zorita
Multimodel Detection and Attribution of Extreme Temperature Changes AMS Journal of Climate Seung-Ki Min, Xuebin Zhang, Francis Zwiers, Hideo Shiogama, Yu-Shiang Tung, and Michael Wehner
The Role of Human Activity in the Recent Warming of Extremely Warm Daytime Temperatures AMS Journal of Climate Nikolaos Christidis, Peter A. Stott, and Simon J. Brown
Dominant Role of Subtropical Pacific Warming in Extreme Eastern Pacific Hurricane Seasons: 2015 and the Future AMS Journal of Climate Hiroyuki Murakami, Gabriel A. Vecchi, Thomas L. Delworth, Andrew T. Wittenberg, Seth Underwood, Richard Gudgel, Xiaosong Yang, Liwei Jia, Fanrong Zeng, Karen Paffendorf, and Wei Zhang
Detecting climate signals in the surface temperature record AMS Journal of Climate Gerald R. North and Mark J. Stevens
Is There a Role for Human-Induced Climate Change in the Precipitation Decline that Drove the California Drought? AMS Journal of Climate Richard Seager, Naomi Henderson, Mark A. Cane, Haibo Liu, and Jennifer Nakamura
Multimodel Multisignal Climate Change Detection at Regional Scale AMS Journal of Climate Xuebin Zhang
Causes of the 2011–14 California Drought AMS Journal of Climate Richard Seager, Martin Hoerling, Siegfried Schubert, Hailan Wang, Bradfield Lyon, Arun Kumar, Jennifer Nakamura, and Naomi Henderson
Detection and Attribution of Observed Changes in Northern Hemisphere Spring Snow Cover AMS Journal of Climate David E. Rupp and Philip W. Mote
Human Contribution to the Lengthening of the Growing Season during 1950–99 AMS Journal of Climate Nikolaos Christidis, Peter A. Stott, and Simon Brown