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 Atlantic salinity changes Geophysical Research Letters Peter A. Stott, Rowan T. Sutton, Doug M. Smith
Attribution of Declining Western U.S. Snowpack to Human Effects AMS Journal of Climate David W. Pierce, Tim P. Barnett, Hugo G. Hidalgo, Tapash Das, Céline Bonfils, Benjamin D. Santer, Govindasamy Bala, Michael D. Dettinger, Daniel R. Cayan, Art Mirin, Andrew W. Wood, and Toru 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
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
Forced and Internal Twentieth-Century SST Trends in the North Atlantic AMS Journal of Climate Mingfang Ting, Yochanan Kushnir, Richard Seager, and Cuihua Li
Probabilistic estimates of recent changes in temperature: a multi-scale attribution analysis Climate Dynamics Nikolaos Christidis, Peter A. Stott, Francis W. Zwiers, Hideo Shiogama, Toru Nozawa
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
Incorporating model quality information in climate change detection and attribution studies Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences B. D. Santer, K. E. Taylor, P. J. Gleckler, C. Bonfils, T. P. Barnett, D. W. Pierce, T. M. L. Wigley, C. Mears, F. J. Wentz, W. Brüggemann, N. P. Gillett, S. A. Klein, S. Solomon, P. A. Stott, M. F. Wehner
Anthropogenic forcing dominates sea level rise since 1850 Geophysical Research Letters S. Jevrejeva, A. Grinsted, J. C. Moore
Distinguishing Pronounced Droughts in the Southwestern United States: Seasonality and Effects of Warmer Temperatures AMS Journal of Climate Jeremy L. Weiss
Attribution of anthropogenic influence on seasonal sea level pressure Geophysical Research Letters N. P. Gillett, P. A. Stott
Anthropogenic Influence on Long Return Period Daily Temperature Extremes at Regional Scales American Meteorological Society Francis W. Zwiers, Xuebin Zhang and Yang Feng
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
Human contribution to more-intense precipitation extremes Nature Seung-Ki Min, Xuebin Zhang, Francis W. Zwiers, Gabriele C. Hegerl
The Role of Human Activity in the Recent Warming of Extremely Warm Daytime Temperatures AMS Journal of Climate Nikolaos Christidis, Peter A. Stott, and Simon J. Brown
Atlantic hurricane trends linked to climate change Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union Michael E. Mann and Kerry A. Emanuel
Detectable regional changes in the number of warm nights Geophysical Research Letters Morak, S., Hegerl, G. C., Kenyon, J.
The contribution of anthropogenic forcings to regional changes in temperature during the last decade Climate Dynamics Nikolaos Christidis, Peter A. Stott, Francis W. Zwiers, Hideo Shiogama, Toru Nozawa
Increase of extreme events in a warming world Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Stefan Rahmstorf and Dim Coumou
Has the magnitude of floods across the USA changed with global CO2 levels? Hydrological Sciences Journal R. M. Hirsch and K.R. Ryberg