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

21 Jan 2026
Normalized difference vegetation index maps of pure pixels over China for estimation of fractional vegetation cover
Tian Zhao, Wanjuan Song, Xihan Mu, Yun Xie, Yuanyuan Wang, Hangqi Ren, Donghui Xie, and Guangjian Yan
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 551–568, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-551-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-551-2026, 2026
Short summary
21 Jan 2026
Decadal and spatially complete global surface chlorophyll-a data record from satellite and BGC-Argo observations
Daniel J. Ford, Gemma Kulk, Shubha Sathyendranath, and Jamie D. Shutler
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 569–584, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-569-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-569-2026, 2026
Short summary
21 Jan 2026
A global black carbon dataset of column concentration and microphysical information derived from MISR multi-band observations and Mie scattering simulations
Zhewen Liu, Jason B. Cohen, Pravash Tiwari, Luoyao Guan, Shuo Wang, Zhengqiang Li, and Kai Qin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 507–533, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-507-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-507-2026, 2026
Short summary
21 Jan 2026
Daily melt pond and net ice surface fractions in the Arctic Ocean from MODIS visible imagery: 2000–2024
Remon Sadikni and Stefan Kern
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-757,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-757, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
21 Jan 2026
Mapping Paddy Rice Distribution and Cropping Intensity in South and Southeast Asia (1995–2024) at 30 m Resolution
Zizhang Zhao, Geli Zhang, Jinwei Dong, Jilin Yang, and Xiangming Xiao
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-711,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-711, 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.