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
20 Jul 2026
The Greenland GNSS Network (GNET): geodetic grade GNSS measurements of Greenland's 3D bedrock displacement from 1995–2025
Christian Solgaard, Finn Bo Madsen, Malte Winther-Dahl, Thomas Henry Nylen, Danjal Longfors Berg, Ole Bjerregaard, Javed Hassan, Per Knudsen, Michael Bevis, and Shfaqat Abbas Khan
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 5117–5142, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5117-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5117-2026, 2026
Short summary
More highlight articles 
04 Aug 2026
Geostrophic currents in the first 2000 m of the Mediterranean water column derived from Argo float data
Elysee Manimpire Gasana, Annunziata Pirro, Elena Mauri, Riccardo Martellucci, Antonella Gallo, Miroslav Gacic, Pierre-Marie Poulain, and Milena Menna
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-543,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-543, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
03 Aug 2026
POPE: an annual global half degree emission inventory for PFAS 1950–2020
Pascal Simon, Martin Otto Paul Ramacher, Stefan Hagemann, Volker Matthias, Hanna Joerss, and Johannes Bieser
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 5713–5737, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5713-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5713-2026, 2026
Short summary
03 Aug 2026
GLBD-FED: a global first-hand in-situ daily temperature dataset preferentially with a 00:00–24:00 UTC 24 h window (1981–2024)
Su Yang, Panmao Zhai, Xuebin Zhang, Hui Jiang, Fang Yuan, and Zijiang Zhou
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 5739–5758, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5739-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-5739-2026, 2026
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.
