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

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.

14 Mar 2025 Global Carbon Budget 2024

A group of more than 100 researchers from more than 15 countries compiled and documented an annual global carbon budget covering sources and sinks. The results were published today in ESSD.

14 Mar 2025 Global Carbon Budget 2024

A group of more than 100 researchers from more than 15 countries compiled and documented an annual global carbon budget covering sources and sinks. The results were published today in ESSD.

Recent papers

21 Nov 2025
The Greenland Ice-Marginal Lake Inventory Series from 2016 to 2023
Penelope How, Dorthe Petersen, Kristian K. Kjeldsen, Katrine Raundrup, Nanna B. Karlsson, Alexandra Messerli, Anja Rutishauser, Jonathan L. Carrivick, James M. Lea, Robert S. Fausto, Andreas P. Ahlstrøm, and Signe B. Andersen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 6331–6351, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6331-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6331-2025, 2025
Short summary
21 Nov 2025
A 30 m resolution dataset of soil and water conservation terraces across China for 2000, 2010, and 2020
Enwei Zhang, Yueli Chen, Shengzhao Wei, Chenli Liu, Hongna Wang, Bowen Deng, Honghong Lin, Xue Yang, Yawen Li, and Xingwu Duan
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 6315–6330, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6315-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6315-2025, 2025
Short summary
21 Nov 2025
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 Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-548,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-548, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
20 Nov 2025
A high-resolution (0.05°) global seamless continuity record (2002–2023) of near-surface soil freeze-thaw states via passive microwave and optical satellite data
Defeng Feng, Tianjie Zhao, Jingyao Zheng, Yu Bai, Youhua Ran, Xiaokang Kou, Lingmei Jiang, Ziqian Zhang, Pei Yu, Jinbiao Zhu, Jie Pan, Jiancheng Shi, and Yuei-An Liou
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 6273–6293, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6273-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6273-2025, 2025
Short summary
20 Nov 2025
Monitoring abiotic and biotic parameters of forest regrowth under different management regimes on former wildfire sites in northeastern Germany – data from the PYROPHOB project
Marie-Therese Schmehl, Yojana Adhikari, Cathrina Balthasar, Anja Binder, Danica Clerc, Sophia Dobkowitz, Werner Gerwin, Kristin Günther, Heinrich Hartong, Thilo Heinken, Carsten Hess, Pierre L. Ibisch, Florent Jouy, Loretta Leinen, Thomas Raab, Frank Repmann, Susanne Rönnefarth, Lilly Rohlfs, Marina Schirrmacher, Jens Schröder, Maren Schüle, Andrea Vieth-Hillebrand, and Till Francke
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 6295–6313, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6295-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6295-2025, 2025
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.