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)
Causes of the 2011–14 California Drought AMS Journal of Climate Richard Seager, Martin Hoerling, Siegfried Schubert, Hailan Wang, Bradfield Lyon, Arun Kumar, Jennifer Nakamura, and Naomi Henderson
Human Contribution to the Lengthening of the Growing Season during 1950–99 AMS Journal of Climate Nikolaos Christidis, Peter A. Stott, and Simon Brown
Detection and Attribution of Observed Changes in Northern Hemisphere Spring Snow Cover AMS Journal of Climate David E. Rupp and Philip W. Mote
Model Assessment of Observed Precipitation Trends Over Land Regions: Detectable Human Influences and Possible Low Bias in Model Trends AMS Journal of Climate Thomas R. Knutson and Fanrong Zeng
Detecting Greenhouse-Gas-Induced Climate Change with an Optimal Fingerprint Method AMS Journal of Climate Hegerl, G.C., H.v. Storch, K. Hasselmann, B.D. Santer, U. Cubasch, and P.D. Jones
Anthropogenic Warming of the Oceans: Observations and Model Results AMS Journal of Climate David W. Pierce and Tim P. Barnett
Detectable Changes in the Frequency of Temperature Extremes AMS Journal of Climate Simone Morak, Gabriele C. Hegerl, and Nikolaos Christidis
Change in the Odds of Warm Years and Seasons Due to Anthropogenic Influence on the Climate AMS Journal of Climate Nikolaos Christidis and Peter A. Stott
Forced and Internal Twentieth-Century SST Trends in the North Atlantic AMS Journal of Climate Mingfang Ting, Yochanan Kushnir, Richard Seager, and Cuihua Li
Distinguishing Pronounced Droughts in the Southwestern United States: Seasonality and Effects of Warmer Temperatures AMS Journal of Climate Jeremy L. Weiss
Deducing Multidecadal Anthropogenic Global Warming Trends Using Multiple Regression Analysis AMS Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences Jiansong Zhou and Ka-Kit Tung
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
Detecting an external influence on recent changes in oceanic oxygen using an optimal fingerprinting method Biogeosciences Andrews, O. D., Bindoff, N. L., Halloran, P. R., Ilyina, T., Quéré, C. Le
Using present-day observations to detect when anthropogenic change forces surface ocean carbonate chemistry outside preindustrial bounds Biogeosciences Sutton, Adrienne J., Sabine, Christopher L., Feely, Richard A., Cai, Wei-Jun, Cronin, Meghan F., McPhaden, Michael J., Morell, Julio M., Newton, Jan A., Noh, Jae-Hoon, Ólafsdóttir, Sólveig R., Salisbury, Joseph E., Send, Uwe et al
EEE 2016: CMIP5 Model-based Assessment of Anthropogenic Influence on Highly Anomalous Arctic Warmth During November–December 2016 Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Jonghun Kam, Thomas R. Knutson, Fanrong Zeng, and Andrew T. Wittenberg
EEE 2016: The High Latitude Marine Heat Wave of 2016 and Its Impacts on Alaska Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society John E. Walsh, Richard L. Thoman, Uma S. Bhatt, Peter A. Bieniek, Brian Brettschneider, Michael Brubaker, Seth Danielson, Rick Lader, Florence Fetterer, Kris Holderied, Katrin Iken, Andy Mahoney, Molly McCammon, and James Partain
EEE 2013: The extraordinary California drought of 2013/2014: character, context, and the role of climate change Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Daniel L. Swain, Michael Tsiang, Matz Haugen, Deepti Singh, Allison Charland, Bala Rajaratnam, and Noah S. Diffenbaug
EEE 2016: Anthropogenic and Natural Influences on Record 2016 Marine Heat waves Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Eric C. J. Oliver, Sarah E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick, Neil J. Holbrook, and Nathaniel L. Bindoff
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 2016: Anthropogenic Forcings and Associated Changes in Fire Risk in Western North America and Australia During 2015/16 Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Simon F. B. Tett, Alexander Falk, Megan Rogers, Fiona Spuler, Calum Turner, Joshua Wainwright, Oscar Dimdore-Miles, Sam Knight, Nicolas Freychet, Michael J. Mineter, and Caroline E. R. Lehmann