ESurf cover
Managing editor: Tom Coulthard
Editors: Andreas Baas, Niels Hovius, Douglas Jerolmack, Andreas Lang, Paola Passalacqua, Wolfgang Schwanghart & A. Joshua West
eISSN: ESurf 2196-632X, ESurfD 2196-6338

Earth Surface Dynamics (ESurf) is a not-for-profit international scientific journal dedicated to the publication and discussion of high-quality research on the physical, chemical, and biological processes shaping Earth's surface and their interactions on all scales.

The main subject areas of ESurf comprise field measurements, remote sensing, and experimental and numerical modelling of Earth surface processes, and their interactions with the lithosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and pedosphere. ESurf prioritizes studies with general implications for Earth surface science and especially values contributions that straddle discipline boundaries, enhance theory–observation feedback, and/or apply basic principles from physics, chemistry, or biology.

Journal metrics

ESurf 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.

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.

13 Mar 2025 New agreement between California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications

We are delighted to announce a new agreement between the California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications. The University of California will cover 50% of article processing charges (APCs) for manuscripts affiliated with any of their research units. Read more.

13 Mar 2025 New agreement between California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications

We are delighted to announce a new agreement between the California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications. The University of California will cover 50% of article processing charges (APCs) for manuscripts affiliated with any of their research units. Read more.

10 Feb 2025 Thank you to all our referees in 2024!

A big thank you to all referees for their volunteer work in providing fair, thorough, and constructive peer-review reports! Through their invaluable contribution our interactive open-access journals maintain their high scientific standards and their ongoing success.

10 Feb 2025 Thank you to all our referees in 2024!

A big thank you to all referees for their volunteer work in providing fair, thorough, and constructive peer-review reports! Through their invaluable contribution our interactive open-access journals maintain their high scientific standards and their ongoing success.

Recent papers

05 Feb 2026
| Highlight paper
Investigating controls on fluvial grain sizes in post-glacial landscapes using citizen science
Anya H. Towers, Mikael Attal, Simon M. Mudd, and Fiona J. Clubb
Earth Surf. Dynam., 14, 95–113, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-95-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-95-2026, 2026
Short summary Editor
04 Feb 2026
Seasonal thermo-hydro-mechanical dynamics of permafrost rockwalls revealed by automated electrical resistivity monitoring
Maike Offer, Ingo Hartmeyer, Samuel Weber, Markus Keuschnig, and Michael Krautblatter
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6091,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6091, 2026
Preprint under review for ESurf (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
04 Feb 2026
Parameter estimation of river incision models of soft sedimentary rocks – a case study on the Kamikita Coastal Plain, northeast Japan
Shizuka Takai, Tomoji Sanga, Taro Shimada, and Seiji Takeda
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-290,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-290, 2026
Preprint under review for ESurf (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
03 Feb 2026
A new sediment budget for the Congo River Basin reveals underestimated tributary contributions and large-scale deposition
Nathan Carlier, Matti Barthel, Antoine de Clippele, Lissie Willemijn de Groot, Travis William Drake, Jordon Dennis Hemingway, Yi Hou, José Nlandu Wabakanghanzi, Joseph Zambo Mandea, Pengzhi Zhao, Johan Six, and Kristof Van Oost
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-247,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-247, 2026
Preprint under review for ESurf (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
02 Feb 2026
Short Communication: The need for open-source hardware, software, and data-sharing specifications in geomorphology
Andrew J. Moodie, Eric Barefoot, Eric Hutton, Charles Nguyen, Andrew D. Wickert, and Jeffrey Marr
Earth Surf. Dynam., 14, 85–94, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-85-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-85-2026, 2026
Short summary

Highlight articles

05 Feb 2026
Investigating controls on fluvial grain sizes in post-glacial landscapes using citizen science
Anya H. Towers, Mikael Attal, Simon M. Mudd, and Fiona J. Clubb
Earth Surf. Dynam., 14, 95–113, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-95-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-95-2026, 2026
Short summary Editor
18 Dec 2025
An extrapolation algorithm for estimating river bed grain size distributions across basins
Jordan T. Gilbert
Earth Surf. Dynam., 13, 1307–1317, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-1307-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-1307-2025, 2025
Short summary Editor
12 Nov 2025
Progressive destabilization of a freestanding rock pillar in permafrost on the Matterhorn (Swiss Alps): Hydro-mechanical modeling and analysis
Samuel Weber, Jan Beutel, Michael Dietze, Alexander Bast, Robert Kenner, Marcia Phillips, Johannes Leinauer, Simon Mühlbauer, Felix Pfluger, and Michael Krautblatter
Earth Surf. Dynam., 13, 1157–1179, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-1157-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-1157-2025, 2025
Short summary Editor
04 Sep 2025
Biomechanical parameters of marram grass (Calamagrostis arenaria) for advanced modeling of dune vegetation
Viktoria Kosmalla, Oliver Lojek, Jana Carus, Kara Keimer, Lukas Ahrenbeck, Björn Mehrtens, David Schürenkamp, Boris Schröder, and Nils Goseberg
Earth Surf. Dynam., 13, 791–825, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-791-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-791-2025, 2025
Short summary Editor
26 Aug 2025
A numerical model of microplastic erosion, transport, and deposition for fluvial systems
John J. Armitage and Sébastien Rohais
Earth Surf. Dynam., 13, 771–789, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-771-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-771-2025, 2025
Short summary Editor

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.