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)
Temperature impacts on the water year 2014 drought in California Geophysical Research Letters Shraddhanand Shukla, Mohammad Safeeq, Amir AghaKouchak, Kaiyu Guan, Chris Funk
Synoptic and quantitative attributions of the extreme precipitation leading to the August 2016 Louisiana flood Geophysical Research Letters S.‐Y. Simon Wang, Lin Zhao, Robert R. Gillies
Synoptic and Climate Attributions of the December 2015 Extreme Flooding in Missouri, USA Water Boniface Fosu, Simon Wang, and Kathleen Pegion
Structure and Detectability of Trends in Hydrological Measures over the Western United States Journal of Hydrometeorology T. Das, H. G. Hidalgo, M. D. Dettinger, D. R. Cayan, D. W. Pierce, C. Bonfils, T. P. Barnett, G. Bala and A. Mirin
Southern Ocean warming due to human influence Geophysical Research Letters John C. Fyfe
Single‐step attribution of increasing frequencies of very warm regional temperatures to human influence Atmospheric Science Letters Peter A. Stott, Gareth S. Jones, Nikolaos Christidis, Francis W. Zwiers, Gabriele Hegerl, Hideo Shiogama
Simulations of Hurricane Katrina (2005) under sea level and climate conditions for 1900 Climatic Change Jennifer L. Irish, Alison Sleath, Mary A. Cialone, Thomas R. Knutson, Robert E. Jensen
Significant anthropogenic-induced changes of climate classes since 1950 Nature Duo Chan, Qigang Wu
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
Record Temperature Streak Bears Anthropogenic Fingerprint Geophysical Research Letters Mann, Michael E., Miller, Sonya K., Rahmstorf, Stefan, Steinman, Byron A., Tingley, Martin
Record Hot Year, 2015 World Weather Attribution
Recent intense hurricane response to global climate change Climate Dynamics Greg Holland, Cindy L. Bruyère
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 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 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