Chief editors: Kirsten Elger, Tobias Gerken, Sibylle K. Hassler, Conrad Jackisch, Graciela Raga, François G. Schmitt, Hanqin Tian, Baptiste Vandecrux & Yuyu Zhou
eISSN: ESSD 1866-3516, ESSDD 1866-3591
Earth System Science Data (ESSD) is an international, interdisciplinary journal for the publication of articles on original research data (sets), furthering the reuse of high-quality data of benefit to Earth system sciences. The editors encourage submissions on original data or data collections which are of sufficient quality and have potential to contribute to these aims. The journal maintains sections for regular-length articles, brief communications (e.g. on additions to data sets) and commentaries, as well as review articles and special issues.
This short commentary draws on ESSD author, reviewer and editor experiences over its first 10 years of operation to define guidelines, requirements and benefits of the ESSD processes.
News
07 May 2026
Temporary unavailability of article and preprint PDFs due to technical issues
Since Tuesday, 5 May, 06:30 CET, we have been experiencing technical issues caused by high demand on our systems, which have significantly affected our journal libraries. To maintain platform stability and ensure continued access to critical services, all preprint and journal article PDFs were temporarily restricted, while HTML full-text content and XML files remained available. Since Thursday, 7 May, 08:30 CET, we have made the preprint PDFs available again; however, journal article PDFs remain restricted until the technical issues have been resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work to restore full PDF access as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding.
07 May 2026
Temporary unavailability of article and preprint PDFs due to technical issues
Since Tuesday, 5 May, 06:30 CET, we have been experiencing technical issues caused by high demand on our systems, which have significantly affected our journal libraries. To maintain platform stability and ensure continued access to critical services, all preprint and journal article PDFs were temporarily restricted, while HTML full-text content and XML files remained available. Since Thursday, 7 May, 08:30 CET, we have made the preprint PDFs available again; however, journal article PDFs remain restricted until the technical issues have been resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work to restore full PDF access as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding.
Highlight articles
29 Jul 2026
Munition piles in the German Baltic Sea: inventory and maritime hazard perspectives
Torsten Frey, Mareike Keller, Jochen Mohrmann, Alexander Pechmann, Samar Ensenbach, and Jens Greinert
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 5563–5581, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5563-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5563-2026, 2026
Short summary
22 Jul 2026
Lagoon temperature and hydrodynamics of Reao Atoll (Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia) before and during the 2024 El-Niño marine heatwave
Esther Ladet, Carla Chevillard, Romain Le Gendre, Thomas Trophime, Sébastien Petton, and Simon Van Wynsberge
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 5283–5302, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5283-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5283-2026, 2026
Short summary
More highlight articles 
24 Aug 2026
Decadal surge of water-surface solar in China's Yangtze Delta: A high-fidelity SAR-optical fusion inventory (2015–2024)
Yue Yan, Xin Jiang, Sihuan Wei, Yubin Jin, Xinyu Zou, Junwei Liu, Yaotong Cai, Jianhuai Ye, Zhilin Guo, and Zhenzhong Zeng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 5951–5968, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5951-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5951-2026, 2026
Short summary
24 Aug 2026
A first 90 m resolution active layer moisture dataset across the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau permafrost region
Erji Du, Tonghua Wu, Liyun Dai, Youhua Ran, Yufang Min, Lin Zhao, Lingxiao Wang, Jimin Yao, Zhibin Li, Keting Feng, Yao Xiao, Guojie Hu, Defu Zou, Guangyue Liu, Zanpin Xing, Xiaofan Zhu, and Ji Chen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-330,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-330, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
24 Aug 2026
Coastal North America In Situ Chlorophyll and Optical Dataset
Gianna Milton, Kimberly Hyde, Ivona Cetinic, Maxwell Beal, Ryan Vandermeulen, and Haley Synan
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-599,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-599, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
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In accordance with current European restrictions, Copernicus Publications does not step into business relations with and issue APC invoices (articles processing charges) to Russian and Belarusian institutions. The peer-review process and scientific exchange of our journals including preprint posting is not affected. However, these restrictions require that the first contact (contractual partner of Copernicus) has an affiliation and invoice address outside Russia or Belarus.
