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)
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
Increasing trends in regional heatwaves Nature Communications S. E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick, S. C. Lewis
Human influence has intensified extreme precipitation in North America Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Megan C. Kirchmeier-Young and Xuebin Zhang
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.
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
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
Marine heatwaves exacerbate climate change impacts for fisheries in the northeast Pacific Scientific Reports William W. L. Cheung & Thomas L. Frölicher
The economic costs of Hurricane Harvey attributable to climate change Climatic Change David J. Frame, Michael F. Wehner, Ilan Noy, Suzanne M. Rosier
Colorado River flow dwindles as warming-driven loss of reflective snow energizes evaporation Science P. C. D. Milly, K. A. Dunne
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
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
Forecasted attribution of the human influence on Hurricane Florence Science Advances K. A. Reed, A. M. Stansfield, M. F. Wehner, C. M. Zarzycki
EEE 2018: Extreme Hail Storms and Climate Change: Foretelling the Future In Tiny, Turbulent Crystal Balls? Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Kelly Mahoney
EEE 2018: Quantifying Human-Induced Temperature Impacts on the 2018 United States Four Corners Hydrologic and Agro-Pastoral Drought Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Williams, E., Funk, C., Shukla, S., and McEvoy, D.
EEE 2018: The Record Low Bering Sea Ice Extent in 2018 – Context, Impacts, and an Assessment of the Role of Anthropogenic Climate Change Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Thoman R. T., Bhatt, U. S., Bieniek, P. A., Brettschneider, B. R., Brubaker, M., et al . . . Walsh, J. E.
EEE 2018: Anthropogenic Impacts on the Exceptional Precipitation of 2018 in the Mid-Atlantic United States Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Winter, J. H., Huang, H., Osterberg, E. C., and Mankin, J. S.
Evaluating the performance of past climate model projections Geophysical Research Letters Zeke Hausfather, Henri F. Drake, Tristan Abbott, Gavin A. Schmidt
Normalized US hurricane damage estimates using area of total destruction, 1900−2018 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aslak Grinsted, Peter Ditlevsen, Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen
Enhanced El Niño‐Southern Oscillation variability in recent decades Geophysical Research Letters Pamela R. Grothe, Kim M. Cobb, Giovanni Liguori, Emanuele Di Lorenzo, Antonietta Capotondi, Yanbin Lu et al . . . Lauren T. Toth
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