Climate Attribution

The Climate Responsibilities of Industrial Carbon Producers

September 2015
Peter C. Frumhoff, Richard Heede, and Naomi Oreskes
Climatic Change
This paper considers the distinctive responsibilities of the major investor-owned producers of fossil fuels, assessing the actions these companies took and could have taken to act upon the scientific evidence of climate change. Read More →

Attribution of Extreme Climate Events

July 2015
Kevin Trenberth, John Fasullo, Ted Shepherd
This article proposes a mechanistic or "storyline" approach to extreme event attribution and evaluates several case studies (extreme snow, flooding, and storm events) using this approach.Read More →

Attribution of the Record High Central England Temperature of 2014 to Anthropogenic Influences

May 2015
Andrew D King, Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, David J Karoly, Sophie C Lewis, Heidi Cullen
Environmental Research Letters
This study points to a large influence of human activities on extreme warm years despite the small region of study and the variable climate of Central England, demonstrating that climate change is clearly visible on the local-scale in this case.Read More →

Accelerating extinction risk from climate change

May 2015
Mark C. Urban
Science
This study synthesized published studies in order to estimate a global mean extinction rate and determine which factors contribute the greatest uncertainty to climate change–induced extinction risks.Read More →

Anthropogenic Warming Has Increased Drought Risk in California

March 2015
Noah S. Diffenbaugh, Daniel L. Swain, Danielle Touma
Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences of the United States of America
This study finds that precipitation deficits in California were more than twice as likely to yield drought years if they occurred when conditions were warm. Read More →

The Extraordinary California Drought of 2013-2014: Character, Context, and the Role of Climate Change

September 2014
Daniel L. Swain, Michael Tsiang, Matz Haugen, Deepti Singh, Allison Charland, Bala Rajaratnam, Noah S. Diffenbaugh
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
California’s driest 12-month period on record occurred during 2013/14, and while global warming likely increased the probability of certain large-scale atmospheric conditions, implications for very low precipitation in California remain uncertain. Read More →