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)
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
Detection and attribution of temperature changes in the mountainous western United States AMS Journal of Climate Céline Bonfils, Benjamin D. Santer, David W. Pierce, Hugo G. Hidalgo, Govindasamy Bala, Tapash Das, Tim P. Barnett, Daniel R. Cayan, Charles Doutriaux, Andrew W. Wood, Art Mirin, and Toru Nozawa
Detection of a Human Influence on North American Climate Science David J. Karoly, Karl Braganza, Peter A. Stott, Julie M. Arblaster, Gerald A. Meehl, Anthony J. Broccoli, Keith W. Dixon
Detection of Anthropogenic Climate Change in the World's Oceans Science Tim P. Barnett, David W. Pierce, Reiner Schnur
Detection of anthropogenic influence on a summertime heat stress index Climatic Change Thomas R. Knutson, Jeffrey J. Ploshay
Detection of changes in temperature extremes during the second half of the 20th century Geophysical Research Letters Christidis, Nikolaos, Stott, Peter A., Brown, Simon, Hegerl, Gabriele C., Caesar, John
Detection of external influence on trends of atmospheric storminess and northern oceans wave heights Climate Dynamics Xiaolan L. Wang, Val R. Swail, Francis W. Zwiers, Xuebin Zhang, Yang Feng
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
Detection of human influence on sea-level pressure Nature Nathan P. Gillett, Francis W. Zwiers, Andrew J. Weaver, Peter A. Stott
Detection of human influence on twentieth-century precipitation trends Nature Xuebin Zhang, Francis W. Zwiers, Gabriele C. Hegerl, F. Hugo Lambert, Nathan P. Gillett, Susan Solomon, Peter A. Stott, Toru Nozawa
Detection of spatially aggregated changes in temperature and precipitation extremes Geophysical Research Letters E. M. Fischer, R. Knutti
Diagnosing conditional anthropogenic contributions to heavy Colorado rainfall in September 2013 Weather and Climate Extremes Pardeep Pall, Christina M. Patricola, Michael F. Wehner, Dáithí A. Stone, Christopher J. Paciorek, William D. Collins
Distinctive climate signals in reanalysis of global ocean heat content Geophysical Research Letters Balmaseda, Magdalena A., Trenberth, Kevin E., Källén, Erland
Distinguishing Pronounced Droughts in the Southwestern United States: Seasonality and Effects of Warmer Temperatures AMS Journal of Climate Jeremy L. Weiss
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
Drivers of 2016 record Arctic warmth assessed using climate simulations subjected to Factual and Counterfactual forcing Weather and Climate Extremes Lantao Sun, Dave Allured, Martin Hoerling, Lesley Smith, Judith Perlwitz, Don Murray, Jon Eischeid
Early 21st century anthropogenic changes in extremely hot days as simulated by the C20C+ detection and attribution multi-model ensemble Weather and Climate Extremes Michael Wehner, Dáithí Stone, Hideo Shiogama, Piotr Wolskic, Andrew Ciavarella, Nikolaos Christidis, Harinarayan Krishnana
EEE 2011: Did Human Influence On Climate Make The 2011 Texas Drought More Probable? Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society David Rupp, Philip Mote, Neil Massey, Cameron Rye, Richard Jones, and Myles Allen
EEE 2012: Hurricane Sandy Inundation Probabilities Today and Tomorrow Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society William Sweet, Chris Zervas, Stephen Gill, and Joseph Park
EEE 2012: Likelihood Of July 2012 U.S. Temperatures In Preindustrial And Current Forcing Regimes Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Noah S. Diffenbaugh and Martin Scherer