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
Colorado River flow dwindles as warming-driven loss of reflective snow energizes evaporation Science P. C. D. Milly, K. A. Dunne
The economic costs of Hurricane Harvey attributable to climate change Climatic Change David J. Frame, Michael F. Wehner, Ilan Noy, Suzanne M. Rosier
Marine heatwaves exacerbate climate change impacts for fisheries in the northeast Pacific Scientific Reports William W. L. Cheung & Thomas L. Frölicher
Detected climatic change in global distribution of tropical cyclones Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Hiroyuki Murakami, Thomas L. Delworth, William F. Cooke, Ming Zhao, Baoqiang Xiang, Pang-Chi Hsu
Global increase in major tropical cyclone exceedance probability over the past four decades Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences James P. Kossin, Kenneth R. Knapp, Timothy L. Olander, Christopher S. Velden
Increased drought severity tracks warming in the United States’ largest river basin Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Justin Martin, Gregory Pederson, Connie Woodhouse, Edward Cook, Gregory McCabe, Kevin Anchukaitis, Erika Wise, Patrick Erger, Larry Dolan, Marketa McGuire, Subhrendu Gangopadhyay, Katherine Chase, Jeremy Littell, Stephen Gray, Scott St. George et al.
Human influence has intensified extreme precipitation in North America Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Megan C. Kirchmeier-Young and Xuebin Zhang
Increasing trends in regional heatwaves Nature Communications S. E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick, S. C. Lewis
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
Anthropogenic climate change is worsening North American pollen seasons Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences William R. L. Anderegg, John T. Abatzoglou, Leander D. L. Anderegg, Leonard Bielory, Patrick L. Kinney, and Lewis Ziska
Attributable human-induced changes in the magnitude of flooding in the Houston, Texas region during Hurricane Harvey Climatic Change Michael Wehner & Christopher Sampson
Recent increases in tropical cyclone precipitation extremes over the US east coast Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Justin T. Maxwell, Joshua C. Bregy, Scott M. Robeson, Paul A. Knapp, Peter T. Soulé, and Valerie Trouet
Global urban population exposure to extreme heat Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Cascade Tuholske, Kelly Caylor, Chris Funk, Andrew Verdin, Stuart Sweeney, Kathryn Grace, Pete Peterson, and Tom Evans
Quantifying contributions of natural variability and anthropogenic forcings on increased fire weather risk over the western United States Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Yizhou Zhuang, Rong Fu, Benjamin D. Santer, Robert E. Dickinson, and Alex Hall
Increasingly frequent wildfires linked to human-caused climate change, UCLA-led study finds Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Yizhou Zhuang, Alex Hall, Benjamin Santer, and Robert Dickinson
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
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.
Increasing heat-stress inequality in a warming climate Earth's Future Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, John T. Abatzoglou, Jan F. Adamowski, Jeffrey P. Prestemon, Bhaskar Chittoori, Ata Akbari Asanjan, Mojtaba Sadegh
Unraveling a century of global change impacts on winter bird distributions in the eastern United States Global Change Biology