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)
Quantile-based bias correction and uncertainty quantification of extreme event attribution statements Weather and Climate Extremes Jeon, Paciorek, and Wehner
Rapid attribution of the August 2016 flood-inducing extreme precipitation in south Louisiana to climate change World Weather Attribution, Hydrology and Earth Systems Science Karin van der Wiel, Sarah B. Kapnick, Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, Kirien Whan, Sjoukje Philip, Gabriel A. Vecchi, Roop K. Singh, Julie Arrighi, and Heidi Cullen
Rapid attribution of the extreme rainfall in Texas from Tropical Storm Imelda World Weather Attribution Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, Karin van der Wiel, Sjoukje Philip & Sarah Kew
Rapid intensification of the emerging southwestern North American megadrought in 2020–2021 Nature Climate Change A. Park Williams, Benjamin I. Cook & Jason E. Smerdon
Recent Advances and Remaining Uncertainties in Resolving Past and Future Climate Effects on Global Fire Activity Current Climate Change Reports A. Park Williams, John T. Abatzoglou
Recent amplification of the North American winter temperature dipole Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Singh, Deepti, Swain, Daniel L., Mankin, Justin S., Horton, Daniel E., Thomas, Leif N., Rajaratnam, Bala, Diffenbaugh, Noah S.
Recent increase in catastrophic tropical cyclone flooding in coastal North Carolina, USA: Long-term observations suggest a regime shift Scientific Reports Hans W. Paerl, Nathan S. Hall, Alexandria G. Hounshell, Richard A. Luettich, Karen L. Rossignol, Christopher L. Osburn, Jerad Bales
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
Recent intense hurricane response to global climate change Climate Dynamics Greg Holland, Cindy L. Bruyère
Record Hot Year, 2015 World Weather Attribution
Record Temperature Streak Bears Anthropogenic Fingerprint Geophysical Research Letters Mann, Michael E., Miller, Sonya K., Rahmstorf, Stefan, Steinman, Byron A., Tingley, Martin
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
Role of the strengthened El Niño teleconnection in the May 2015 floods over the southern Great Plains Geophysical Research Letters Simon Wang, S.‐Y., Huang, Wan‐Ru, Hsu, Huang‐Hsiung, Gillies, Robert R.
Satellites reveal hotspots of global river extent change Nature Communications
Sea-level rise and other influences on decadal-scale salinity variability in a coastal plain estuary Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science Andrew C. Ross, Raymond G. Najjar, Ming Li, Michael E. Mann, Susan E. Ford, Brandon Katz
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
Severe Continental-Scale Impacts of Climate Change Are Happening Now: Extreme Climate Events Impact Marine Habitat Forming Communities Along 45% of Australia’s Coast Frontiers in Marine Science Babcock, Russell C., Bustamante, Rodrigo H., Fulton, Elizabeth A., Fulton, Derek J., Haywood, Michael D. E., Hobday, Alistair James, Kenyon, Robert, Matear, Richard James, Plagányi, Eva E., Richardson, Anthony J., Vanderklift, Mathew A.
Severe Lake Heatwaves Attributable to Human-Induced Global Warming Geophysical Research Letters R. Iestyn Woolway, Clément Albergel, Thomas L. Frölicher, and Marjorie Perroud
Signal detectability in extreme precipitation changes assessed from twentieth century climate simulations Climate Dynamics Seung-Ki Min, Xuebin Zhang, Francis W. Zwiers, Petra Friederichs, Andreas Hense
Significant anthropogenic-induced changes of climate classes since 1950 Nature Duo Chan, Qigang Wu