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

26 Jan 2026
Spatiotemporal mapping of invasive yellow sweetclover blooms using Sentinel-2 and high-resolution drone imagery
Sakshi Saraf, Ranjeet John, Venkatesh Kolluru, Khushboo Jain, Geoffrey M. Henebry, Jiquan Chen, and Raffaele Lafortezza
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 655–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-655-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-655-2026, 2026
Short summary
26 Jan 2026
Ecological change in the native Scottish pinewoods since 1971 – data from the Bunce 2018–2022 re-survey
Claire M. Wood, Simon M. Smart, Fiona M. Seaton, Andy McMullen, Susan E. Ward, Karen Hornigold, Chris Nichols, and Clare McW. H. Benskin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-620,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-620, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
26 Jan 2026
The first 25-year, quarterly 10-m land change map of China's Loess Plateau reveals long-term and substantial soil erosion mitigation
Mofan Cheng, Zhuohong Li, Linxin Li, Wei He, Liangpei Zhang, and Hongyan Zhang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-807,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-807, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
26 Jan 2026
An operational global L-band soil moisture and vegetation optical depth dataset from optimized 40° SMOS brightness temperatures
Zanpin Xing, Xiaojun Li, Frédéric Frappart, Gabrielle De Lannoy, Thomas Jagdhuber, Jian Peng, Lei Fan, Hongliang Ma, Karthikeyan Lanka, Xiangzhuo Liu, Mengjia Wang, Lin Zhao, Yongqin Liu, and Jean-Pierre Wigneron
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-728,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-728, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
26 Jan 2026
A Year-Long Eddy Covariance Dataset over an Alpine Steppe: A Landscape Perspective on Carbon and Energy Fluxes
Nithin D. Pillai, Christian Wille, Felix Nieberding, Manuel Helbig, and Torsten Sachs
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-785,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-785, 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.