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)
Assessing the present and future probability of Hurricane Harvey’s rainfall Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Kerry Emanuel
Global urban population exposure to extreme heat Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Cascade Tuholske, Kelly Caylor, Chris Funk, Andrew Verdin, Stuart Sweeney, Kathryn Grace, Pete Peterson, and Tom Evans
Recent increases in tropical cyclone precipitation extremes over the US east coast Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Justin T. Maxwell, Joshua C. Bregy, Scott M. Robeson, Paul A. Knapp, Peter T. Soulé, and Valerie Trouet
Increasingly frequent wildfires linked to human-caused climate change, UCLA-led study finds Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Yizhou Zhuang, Alex Hall, Benjamin Santer, and Robert Dickinson
Projected Atlantic hurricane surge threat from rising temperatures Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aslak Grinsted, John C. Moore, Svetlana Jevrejeva
Hurricane Sandy’s flood frequency increasing from year 1800 to 2100 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Ning Lin, Robert E. Kopp, Benjamin P. Horton, Jeffrey P. Donnelly
Identifying human influences on atmospheric temperature Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Benjamin D. Santer, Jeffrey F. Painter, Carl A. Mears, Charles Doutriaux, Peter Caldwell, Julie M. Arblaster, Philip J. Cameron-Smith, Nathan P. Gillett, Peter J. Gleckler, John Lanzante, Judith Perlwitz, Susan Solomon, Peter A. Stott, Karl E. Taylor et a
Observed Arctic sea-ice loss directly follows anthropogenic CO2 emission Science Dirk Notz, Julienne Stroeve
Contributions of Anthropogenic and Natural Forcing to Recent Tropopause Height Changes Science B. D. Santer, M. F. Wehner, T. M. L. Wigley, R. Sausen, G. A. Meehl, K. E. Taylor, C. Ammann, J. Arblaster, W. M. Washington, J. S. Boyle, W. Brüggemann
Attribution of global glacier mass loss to anthropogenic and natural causes Science Ben Marzeion, J. Graham Cogley, Kristin Richter, David Parkes
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
Anthropogenic Warming of Earth's Climate System Science Sydney Levitus, John I. Antonov, Julian Wang, Thomas L. Delworth, Keith W. Dixon, Anthony J. Broccoli
Colorado River flow dwindles as warming-driven loss of reflective snow energizes evaporation Science P. C. D. Milly, K. A. Dunne
Detection of Anthropogenic Climate Change in the World's Oceans Science Tim P. Barnett, David W. Pierce, Reiner Schnur
Human-induced arctic moistening Science Seung-Ki Min, Xuebin Zhang, Francis Zwiers
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
The 2021 western North America heat wave among the most extreme events ever recorded globally Science Advances Vikki Thompson, Alan T. Kennedy-Asser, Emily Vosper, Y. T. Eunice Lo, Chris Huntingford, Oliver Andrews, Matthew Collins, Gabrielle C. Hegerland, and Dann Mitchell
Human-caused Indo-Pacific warm pool expansion Science Advances Evan Weller, Seung-Ki Min, Wenju Cai, Francis W. Zwiers, Yeon-Hee Kim, Donghyun Lee
Climate change is increasing the risk of a California megaflood Science Advances Xingying Huang and Daniel L. Swain
A stratospheric pathway linking a colder Siberia to Barents-Kara Sea sea ice loss Science Advances Pengfei Zhang, Yutian Wu, Isla R. Simpson, Karen L. Smith, Xiangdong Zhang, Bithi De, Patrick Callaghan