ESSD cover
Chief editors: Kirsten Elger, Sibylle K. Hassler, Conrad Jackisch, Ken Mankoff, Graciela Raga, François G. Schmitt, Hanqin Tian & 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

03 Dec 2025 New MS Word template available for manuscript preparation

The existing MS Word template for authors has been significantly expanded and now includes many important notes on the standard sections that must be included in the manuscript. Please visit the "Submission" page, section "Templates for your manuscript file" and download the new template before writing your next manuscript.

03 Dec 2025 New MS Word template available for manuscript preparation

The existing MS Word template for authors has been significantly expanded and now includes many important notes on the standard sections that must be included in the manuscript. Please visit the "Submission" page, section "Templates for your manuscript file" and download the new template before writing your next manuscript.

21 Aug 2025 The JapanFlux2024 dataset for eddy covariance observations covering Japan and East Asia from 1990 to 2023

The JapanFlux2024 dataset, created through collaboration across Japan and East Asia, includes eddy covariance data from 83 sites spanning 683 site-years (1990–2023). Please read more.

21 Aug 2025 The JapanFlux2024 dataset for eddy covariance observations covering Japan and East Asia from 1990 to 2023

The JapanFlux2024 dataset, created through collaboration across Japan and East Asia, includes eddy covariance data from 83 sites spanning 683 site-years (1990–2023). Please read more.

19 Jun 2025 Indicators of Global Climate Change 2024: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence

ESSD announces the publication of an update to IPCC's most recent assessment. Please read more.

19 Jun 2025 Indicators of Global Climate Change 2024: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence

ESSD announces the publication of an update to IPCC's most recent assessment. Please read more.

Recent papers

10 Feb 2026
The countrywide historical gravity dataset of Lithuanian territory
Dominykas Šlikas, Eimuntas Paršeliūnas, Rosita Birvydienė, and Romuald Obuchovski
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 1131–1146, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-1131-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-1131-2026, 2026
Short summary
10 Feb 2026
Quantifying the spatial-seasonal patterns of land–atmosphere water, heat and CO2 flux exchange over the Tibetan Plateau from an observational perspective
Binbin Wang, Yaoming Ma, Zeyong Hu, Xuan Li, Weiqiang Ma, Xuelong Chen, Cunbo Han, Zhipeng Xie, Yuyang Wang, Maoshan Li, Bin Ma, Xingdong Shi, Weimo Li, and Zhengling Cai
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 1147–1164, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-1147-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-1147-2026, 2026
Short summary
10 Feb 2026
1 km annual forest cover and plant functional type dataset for China from 1981 to 2023
Bo Liu, Boyan Li, Fulai Feng, Yangcan Bao, Jing Li, and Qi Feng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 1103–1129, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-1103-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-1103-2026, 2026
Short summary
10 Feb 2026
Fusing ERA5-Land and SMAP L4 for an improved global soil moisture product (1950–2025)
Wenhong Wang, Shiao Feng, Yonggen Zhang, Zhongwang Wei, Jianzhi Dong, Lutz Weihermüller, Cong-Qiang Liu, and Harry Vereecken
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 1061–1088, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-1061-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-1061-2026, 2026
Short summary
10 Feb 2026
HUST-Grace2026s: A high-resolution static gravity field product from GRACE and GRACE-FO observations (2002–2025)
Lijun Zheng, Hao Zhou, Xiang Guo, Zebing Zhou, and Zhicai Luo
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-53,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-53, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary

Notice on the current situation in Ukraine

To show our support for Ukraine, all fees for papers from authors (first or corresponding authors) affiliated to Ukrainian institutions are automatically waived, regardless if these papers are co-authored by scientists affiliated to Russian and/or Belarusian institutions. The only exception will be if the corresponding author or first contact (contractual partner of Copernicus) are from a Russian and/or Belarusian institution, in that case the APCs are not waived.

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.