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)
Anthropogenic Warming of the Oceans: Observations and Model Results AMS Journal of Climate David W. Pierce and Tim P. Barnett
Forced and unforced ocean temperature changes in Atlantic and Pacific tropical cyclogenesis regions Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences B. D. Santer, T. M. L. Wigley, P. J. Gleckler, C. Bonfils, M. F. Wehner, K. AchutaRao, T. P. Barnett, J. S. Boyle, W. Brüggemann, M. Fiorino, N. Gillett, J. E. Hansen, P. D. Jones, S. A. Klein, G. A. Meehl, S. C. B. Raper, R. W. Reynolds et al
Multimodel Multisignal Climate Change Detection at Regional Scale AMS Journal of Climate Xuebin Zhang
Southern Ocean warming due to human influence Geophysical Research Letters John C. Fyfe
Quantifying anthropogenic influence on recent near-surface temperature change Surveys in Geophysics M. R. Allen, N. P. Gillett, J. A. Kettleborough, G. Hegerl, R. Schnur, P. A. Stott, G. Boer, C. Covey, T. L. Delworth, G. S. Jones, J. F. B. Mitchell, T. P. Barnett
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 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
Identification of human-induced changes in atmospheric moisture content Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences B. D. Santer, C. Mears, F. J. Wentz, K. E. Taylor , P. J. Gleckler, T. M. L. Wigley, T. P. Barnett, J. S. Boyle, W. Brüggemann, N. P. Gillett, S. A. Klein, G. A. Meehl, T. Nozawa, D. W. Pierce, P. A. Stott, W. M. Washington, and M. F. Wehner
Attribution of observed surface humidity changes to human influence Nature Katharine M. Willett, Nathan P. Gillett, Philip D. Jones, Peter W. Thorne
Human Contribution to the Lengthening of the Growing Season during 1950–99 AMS Journal of Climate Nikolaos Christidis, Peter A. Stott, and Simon Brown
Water and energy budgets of hurricanes: Case studies of Ivan and Katrina Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Trenberth, Kevin E., Davis, Christopher A., Fasullo, John
Identification of external influences on temperatures in California Climatic Change Céline Bonfils, Philip B. Duffy, Benjamin D. Santer, Tom M. L. Wigley, David B. Lobell, Thomas J. Phillips, Charles Doutriaux
Human contribution to rapidly increasing frequency of very warm Northern Hemisphere summers Journal of Geophysical Research Gareth S. Jones, Peter A. Stott, and Nikolaos Christidis
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
Human-Induced Changes in the Hydrology of the Western United States Science Tim P. Barnett, David W. Pierce, Hugo G. Hidalgo, Celine Bonfils, Benjamin D. Santer, Tapash Das, Govindasamy Bala, Andrew W. Wood, Toru Nozawa, Arthur A. Mirin, Daniel R. Cayan, Michael D. Dettinger
Human-induced arctic moistening Science Seung-Ki Min, Xuebin Zhang, Francis Zwiers
Attribution of cyclogenesis region sea surface temperature change to anthropogenic influence Geophysical Research Letters N. P. Gillett, P. A. Stott, B. D. Santer
Attributing physical and biological impacts to anthropogenic climate change Nature Rosenzweig, C., D. Karoly, M. Vicarelli, P. Neofotis, Q. Wu, G. Casassa, A. Menzel, T.L. Root, N. Estrella, B. Seguin, P. Tryjanowski, C. Liu, S. Rawlins, and A. Imeson
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
Human influence on Arctic sea ice detectable from early 1990s onwards Geophysical Research Letters Seung‐Ki Min, Xuebin Zhang, Francis W. Zwiers, Tom Agnew