Spatial and Temporal Variability Characteristics and Driving Factors of Extreme Precipitation in the Wei River Basin
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report (New Reviewer)
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis study endeavors to comprehend the spatial and temporal trends in extreme precipitation within the Wei River Basin and to identify its principal influencing factors. The subject is well introduced, the methodology is adequately presented, and the results are thoroughly documented. It constitutes a valuable contribution to the academic community, and I give my approval for publication following these minor comments.
Line 27: I suggest replacing the phrase "The increase in the ENSO index and temperature may increase..." with "The increase in the ENSO index and LOTI and LST indices may increase..." to enhance clarity since ONI is also a temperature-based index.
Line 128: The expression "temperature grid data" is repeated twice; if the second instance refers to atmospheric temperature, it should be specified to avoid any confusion for readers.
In the "Climate change index data" sub-section, the authors do not specify the data coverage periods and their spatial resolutions.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors analyzed the extreme precipitation characteristics of the Wei River Basin and its climate drivers. Although there are more studies on such topics, this study can provide some support for theoretical and practical research on extreme precipitation in this region. The innovative results of this study need to be highlighted.
1. When an abbreviation appears for the first time, the full name should be written, e.g., ENSO, LOTI, and LST for Line 19. Line 36: “IPCC”. Line 39: “19 regions” means what? Line 55: “Rx1day and Rx5day”. Line 102: Units should preferably be abbreviated to international standards, e.g., millimeters <> mm. Line 108: “rainfall”<>precipitation. Line 115: “coefficient”<>index. Line 117: revise it. Line 128: revise it.
2. Section 2.2.1: How are missing values in precipitation data handled?
3. Do the R1mm, R10mm, and R20mm indicators count in the extreme precipitation category (Fig. 2 and Table 1)?
4. The section on wavelet analysis was deleted because this statistical analysis may not be correct even through significance analysis. In addition, the correlation analysis between extreme precipitation and climate indicators already exists in this study, so the wavelet analysis part can be deleted.
5. I suggest labeling the trend values for each subregion in Fig. 4.
6. It is suggested here that the authors add intra-annual (seasonal or monthly) spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of extreme precipitation.
7. There may be some lag effect of climate indicators on precipitation, e.g., ENSO peaks generally in the winter and may have an effect on spring and summer precipitation the following year. It is recommended that the authors add a correlation analysis between ESNO and seasonal precipitation extremes.
8. Line 318: It is suggested that the authors should try to calculate the actual growth rate of extreme precipitation for every 1 ℃ increase in temperature in the Wei River Basin (spatial characteristic).
9. Lines 336-367: It is recommended that an explanation be given.
10. A discussion section needs to be added to describe the results of this study in comparison with related published studies, to highlight the innovativeness of this study, to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of this study's methodology, and to provide an outlook for future research.
11. A quantitative result description needs to be added to the results section.
Comments on the Quality of English Language
Minor editing of English language required
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsRelevant revisions were made by the authors. The following minor suggestions need to be considered:
Line 115: Below what threshold (e.g., 10% or 5%) does the missing value need to be interpolated.
In response to previous comment 3, the author argues that R1mm (Table 1) is also an indicator of extreme precipitation, which makes it incomprehensible to me. I have checked the ETCCDI (http://etccdi.pacificclimate.org/list_27_indices.shtml) related materials cited by the authors and found that there is no R1mm indicator in it, so I would like to ask the authors to give an explanation. Since the authors believe that R1mm is an extreme precipitation indicator, can they list some precipitation variables that are not extreme precipitation indicators?
What is the meaning of k in Figure 4 is and what are the units? Needs to be refined by the authors.
The color bar format of Figures 6-8 would be better in graded form rather than the current stretched form.
Line 424: "Figure 9"<>Figure 16?What is the formula for fitting the two trends in Figure 16? What is the scientific basis？
The third paragraph in the conclusion section is too lengthy. In the discussion section, it is suggested to add 2-3 more paragraphs focusing on the mechanisms behind the phenomenon of results.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors study the influence of three climate indicators on the intensity, duration, and frequency of precipitation in the Wei River basin. The use of the three indicators - ENSO, the global land-ocean index (LOTI) index, and the land surface index (LST) add more or less different perspectives on the spatial precipitation distribution. The used methods are well described. The information in the “Results” section is somewhat confusing in commenting the figures in the text, for example, the percentages in the parenthesis do not point out what they mean. The connections between the EPIs and climate indicators concerning the local spatial features could be described more thoroughly. The conclusion section follows the results. The authors should cite the data in a more exact way. I pointed it out in the recommendations, but the authors should add information about the significance levels of the correlation between EPIS and the climate indicators. Also, I have the following recommendations:
Row 86 – “International Meteorological and Climate Extremes Index (ETCCDI)” : The abbreviation means “The Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices”, not the one which the authors use. \
Row 129 – The word “local” is redundant
Row 132 – “and temperature grid data” is redundant
Row 134 – “the data can be in the” could be replaced with “implemented by the”
Row 161 – The “Persistent Wetness Index” is actually the “Consecutive wet days”, so it has to be replaced.
Row 214 – I would say that the maximum values of the EPIs occur also in Qinling Mountains.
- If it is possible, using different forms of marker for terrain features in figure 1 will make them more discernible.
- I think the “western Beiluo River basin” is actually on the east in relation to the domain center. It would be better to use “eastern” instead.
- What about the bigger precipitation intensity in the eastern “Beiluo River basin”?
- Row 262 – What do you mean by “Compared with hilly areas, Guanzhong Plain not only presents certain advantages in precipitation duration (CWD), precipitation frequency (R1mm, R10mm and R20mm) and precipitation intensity (Rx1day, Rx3day and prcp).”? Did you mean something like “Compared with hilly areas, Guanzhong Plain does not present advantages in precipitation duration (CWD), precipitation frequency (R1mm, R10mm and R20mm) and precipitation intensity (Rx1day, Rx3day and prcp)”?
Row 280 – What are the significance levels used for trends? I suppose these levels are the same for the distributions of correlations for EPIs with El Nino and LOTI? Add that information as a table or text.
Row 289 – It is better to separate the “PRCPTOT (54.79%) and SDII (59.80%) had a strong positive trend” in a new sentence for clarity because these two are the only ones with many significantly positive stations.
Row 287 – The “PRCPTOT” is redundant in the sentence. Correct PRCP to PRCPTOT. They are the same index.
Row 312 – “However, SDII of nearly 70% stations showed a strong negative 312 trend and SDII of about 30% stations showed a strong positive trend, indicating that the probability of extreme precipitation in the Wei River Basin has gradually increased in the past 40 years.” I think the proportion between the percentages for negative and positive trends is the opposite! Correct it.
Row 325 – The statement “Specifically, EPIs such as R1mm (71.24%), R10mm (49.31%), R95p (5.34%), R99p (75.34%) and Rx1day (32.88%) had a significant negative correlation with ENSO index.”
Row 326 – I see that by “significant negative correlation”, you mean “Negative strong correlation” in Figure 6. Use one of these two definitions in figures and text. The same goes for other types of significance for correlations and trends.
I suggest you check again the percentages of stations with specific significance level (type) of correlation given in parenthesis. For example in “Specifically, EPIs such as R1mm (71.24%), R10mm (49.31%), R95p (5.34%), R99p (75.34%) and Rx1day (32.88%) had a significant negative correlation with ENSO index.” and “Prcp (60%), R10mm (49.32%), Rx3day (52.05%), SDII (41.1%) and EPIs indexes showed a strong negative correlation in ENSO events.”
Row 340 – What do you mean by “terrazzo”?
Row 342 – One of the “ENSO” should be “CWD”.
Row 367 – The “Figure 7” should be “Figure 8”, because you discuss the LST
Row 387 – The statement “It is worth noting that as temperatures rise, extreme precipitation shows a certain downward trend, suggesting that higher temperatures will curb the frequency of extreme rainfall.” does not seem to be quite true according to Figure 9. Change it by means of adding more uncertainty.
I suggest you change the Figure 9 caption to “Relationship between extreme precipitation events and land surface temperature”
You should provide citations of the sources of the global land-ocean temperature index (LOTI), and local surface temperature.
