ESD cover
Chief editors: Somnath Baidya Roy, Ira Didenkulova, Axel Kleidon & Gabriele Messori
eISSN: ESD 2190-4987, ESDD 2190-4995

Earth System Dynamics (ESD) is a not-for-profit international scientific journal dedicated to the publication and public discussion of studies that take an interdisciplinary perspective on the functioning of the Earth system and global change. The overall behaviour of the Earth system is strongly shaped by the interactions among its various component systems, such as the atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, oceans, pedosphere, and the lithosphere, but also by life and increasingly by human activity. ESD solicits contributions that investigate these various interactions and the underlying mechanisms, ways how these can be conceptualized, modelled, and quantified, predictions of the overall system behaviour to global changes, and the impacts for its habitability, humanity, and the future functioning of the Earth system in the Anthropocene.

Journal metrics

ESD is indexed in the Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, etc. We refrain from displaying the journal metrics prominently on the landing page since citation metrics used in isolation do not describe importance, impact, or quality of a journal. However, these metrics can be found on the journal metrics page.

Highlight articles

02 Oct 2025
Increased future ocean heat uptake constrained by Antarctic sea ice extent
Linus Vogt, Casimir de Lavergne, Jean-Baptiste Sallée, Lester Kwiatkowski, Thomas L. Frölicher, and Jens Terhaar
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1453–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1453-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1453-2025, 2025
Short summary Chief editor
30 Sep 2025
Food trade disruption after global catastrophes
Florian Ulrich Jehn, Łukasz G. Gajewski, Johanna Hedlund, Constantin W. Arnscheidt, Lili Xia, Nico Wunderling, and David Denkenberger
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1585–1603, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1585-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1585-2025, 2025
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15 Sep 2025
ESD Ideas: Climate tipping is not instantaneous – the duration of an overshoot matters
Paul D. L. Ritchie, Chris Huntingford, and Peter M. Cox
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1523–1526, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1523-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1523-2025, 2025
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09 Sep 2025
Multi-centennial climate change in a warming world beyond 2100
Sun-Seon Lee, Sahil Sharma, Nan Rosenbloom, Keith B. Rodgers, Ji-Eun Kim, Eun Young Kwon, Christian L. E. Franzke, In-Won Kim, Mohanan Geethalekshmi Sreeush, and Karl Stein
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1427–1451, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1427-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1427-2025, 2025
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01 Sep 2025
A climate suitability index for species distribution modelling applied to terrestrial arthropods in the Mediterranean region
James M. Ciarlo', Monique Borg Inguanez, Erika Coppola, Aaron Micallef, and David Mifsud
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1391–1407, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1391-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1391-2025, 2025
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Recent papers

02 Oct 2025
| Highlight paper
Increased future ocean heat uptake constrained by Antarctic sea ice extent
Linus Vogt, Casimir de Lavergne, Jean-Baptiste Sallée, Lester Kwiatkowski, Thomas L. Frölicher, and Jens Terhaar
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1453–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1453-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1453-2025, 2025
Short summary Chief editor
30 Sep 2025
| Highlight paper
Food trade disruption after global catastrophes
Florian Ulrich Jehn, Łukasz G. Gajewski, Johanna Hedlund, Constantin W. Arnscheidt, Lili Xia, Nico Wunderling, and David Denkenberger
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1585–1603, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1585-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1585-2025, 2025
Short summary Chief editor
30 Sep 2025
From Farm to Planet: The InSEEDS World-Earth Model for Simulating Transitions to Regenerative Agriculture
Luana Schwarz, Jannes Breier, Hannah Prawitz, Max Bechthold, Werner von Bloh, Sara M. Constantino, Dieter Gerten, Jobst Heitzig, Ronja Hotz, Leander John, Christoph Müller, Johan Rockström, and Jonathan F. Donges
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4079,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4079, 2025
Preprint under review for ESD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
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29 Sep 2025
Ocean dynamics amplify remote warming effects of reforestation
Pierre Etienne Banville, Alexander J. MacIsaac, and Kirsten Zickfeld
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4000,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4000, 2025
Preprint under review for ESD (discussion: open, 0 comments)
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26 Sep 2025
100 kyr ice age cycles as a timescale-matching problem
Takahito Mitsui, Peter Ditlevsen, Niklas Boers, and Michel Crucifix
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1569–1584, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1569-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1569-2025, 2025
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News

02 Oct 2025 Press Release: Antarctic Sea ice emerges as key predictor of accelerated ocean warming

A groundbreaking study published today in ESD provides a critical and previously underestimated connection between Antarctic sea ice, cloud cover, and global warming. This research is important because it shows that a greater extent of Antarctic sea ice today, compared to climate model predictions, means we can expect more significant global warming in the coming decades. Please read more.

02 Oct 2025 Press Release: Antarctic Sea ice emerges as key predictor of accelerated ocean warming

A groundbreaking study published today in ESD provides a critical and previously underestimated connection between Antarctic sea ice, cloud cover, and global warming. This research is important because it shows that a greater extent of Antarctic sea ice today, compared to climate model predictions, means we can expect more significant global warming in the coming decades. Please read more.

13 May 2025 ESD editor Kai Kornhuber received the 2025 Climate Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award

We are glad to announce that ESD Editor Kai Kornhuber received the 2025 Climate Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award. The ESD editorial board congratulates Kai for this achievement.

13 May 2025 ESD editor Kai Kornhuber received the 2025 Climate Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award

We are glad to announce that ESD Editor Kai Kornhuber received the 2025 Climate Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award. The ESD editorial board congratulates Kai for this achievement.

23 Apr 2025 High probability of triggering climate tipping points under current policies modestly amplified by Amazon dieback and permafrost thaw

The authors investigate the probabilities of triggering climate tipping points under various emission scenarios and how they are altered by additional carbon emissions from the tipping of the Amazon and permafrost. They find that there is a high risk for triggering climate tipping points under a scenario comparable to current policies. Read more.

23 Apr 2025 High probability of triggering climate tipping points under current policies modestly amplified by Amazon dieback and permafrost thaw

The authors investigate the probabilities of triggering climate tipping points under various emission scenarios and how they are altered by additional carbon emissions from the tipping of the Amazon and permafrost. They find that there is a high risk for triggering climate tipping points under a scenario comparable to current policies. Read more.

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.