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

06 Jan 2026
The German Small Lake and Pond Inventory
Alexander Wachholz, Susanne I. Schmidt, Jens Arle, and Jeanette Völker
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 117–129, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-117-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-117-2026, 2026
Short summary
06 Jan 2026
Spatially adaptive estimation of multi-layer soil temperature at a daily time-step across China during 2010–2020
Xuetong Wang, Liang He, Peng Li, Jiageng Ma, Yu Shi, Qi Tian, Gang Zhao, Jianqiang He, Hao Feng, Hao Shi, and Qiang Yu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 97–116, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-97-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-97-2026, 2026
Short summary
06 Jan 2026
A six-year circum-Antarctic icebergs dataset (2018–2023)
Zilong Chen, Xuying Liu, Zhenfu Guan, Teng Li, Xiao Cheng, Tian Li, Yan Liu, Qi Liang, Lei Zheng, and Jiping Liu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 147–166, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-147-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-147-2026, 2026
Short summary
06 Jan 2026
A global dataset of soil organic carbon mineralization in response to incubation temperature changes
Shuai Zhang, Mingming Wang, Jinyang Zheng, and Zhongkui Luo
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 131–146, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-131-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-131-2026, 2026
Short summary
05 Jan 2026
A full year of continuous net soil and ditch CO2, CH4, N2O fluxes, soil hydrology and meteorology for a drained fen in Denmark
Annelie S. Nielsen, Klaus S. Larsen, Poul Erik Lærke, Andres F. Rodriguez, Johannes W. M. Pullens, Rasmus J. Petersen, and Jesper R. Christiansen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 33–53, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-33-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-33-2026, 2026
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.