Chief editors: Kirsten Elger, 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
02 Apr 2026
Australia's terrestrial industrial footprint and ecological intactness
The authors developed two datasets representing human industrial pressures and ecological intactness across Australia's landscapes. These datasets fill a long-standing gap in national-scale pressure mapping, providing key insights into human disturbance of the environment. Please read more. 
02 Apr 2026
Australia's terrestrial industrial footprint and ecological intactness
The authors developed two datasets representing human industrial pressures and ecological intactness across Australia's landscapes. These datasets fill a long-standing gap in national-scale pressure mapping, providing key insights into human disturbance of the environment. Please read more.
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.
13 Apr 2026
Ice front positions for Greenland glaciers (2002–2021): a spatially extensive seasonal record and benchmark dataset for algorithm validation
Xi Lu, Liming Jiang, Daan Li, Yi Liu, Andrew J. Sole, and Stephen J. Livingstone
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 2635–2652, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2635-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2635-2026, 2026
Short summary
13 Apr 2026
BuildingSense: a new multimodal building function classification dataset
Pengxiang Su, Runfei Chen, Heng Xu, Wei Huang, Xinling Deng, Songnian Li, Wanglin Yan, Hangbin Wu, and Chun Liu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 2609–2634, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2609-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2609-2026, 2026
Short summary
13 Apr 2026
Harmonising and mapping Patagonian Shelf seabed sediment data
Zoë A. Roseby, Sophie L. Ward, Torsa Sengupta, Callum M. Roberts, and James D. Scourse
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-220,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-220, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD (discussion: upcoming, 0 comments)
Short summary
10 Apr 2026
Spatially distributed measurements of aerosols and stable isotopes in water vapour and precipitation in coastal Northern Norway during the ISLAS2021 campaign
Alena Dekhtyareva, Harald Sodemann, Tim Carlsen, Iris Thurnherr, Aina Johannessen, Andrew Seidl, David M. Chandler, Daniele Zannoni, Alexandra Touzeau, Marvin Kähnert, Astrid B. Gjelsvik, Franziska Hellmuth, Britta Schäfer, and Robert O. David
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 2573–2607, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2573-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2573-2026, 2026
Short summary
Notice on APC invoices
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.
