Land Change Simulation and Forest Carbon Storage of Central Yunnan Urban Agglomeration, China Based on SSP-RCP Scenarios
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments to Authors
I have reviewed the manuscript about the simulation of land and the carbon storage in central Yunnan by Wang et al., It is an interesting study and providing the insights about the carbon stocks in the areas and also predicting the future scenarios. After addressing the comments, the manuscript can be considered for publication, if there is no other major concern.
Below I have few points which could be considered to improve the quality of manuscript and some need the justification as well.
1. In the introduction section, the authors should mention the trend of population rise in Yunnan
2. They should also mention about the conversion of Forests into the seasonal crops
3. Need to introduce the recent simulation techniques used for carbon estimation and their advantages.
4. In the results Figure 7 shows that SSP126 had much different trend line as compared to SSP245 and SSP585, while the Table 2 do not show much difference in the values among the three. This should be made clear or justified the difference.
5. In the discussion, the authors did not mention about the services provided by the natural forests of this province, while talking about conservation of forests as a source of carbon, will also increase the forests services which should also be highlighted.
6. Also need to mention some possible errors from these remote sensing models, as ground truthing can help to verify some data.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.docx
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
General
1. Figures are very poor.
Methods
1. Provide proper citations/references for this portion. It is without citation/references.
Study Area Overview
1. Please provide source citation/reference for this section..
Land use modeling under climate change
1. Please provide source citation/reference for this section.
2. From where you have taken the methodology, please provide source citation/reference.
3. Provide the citation/source for the equation 1, 2 and 3.
RESULTS
Land simulation under different scenarios of SSP-RCP
1. The selected land driving factors are put into the PLUS model. What is the signification of this model?
2. In the future, three different scenarios of SSP-RCP showed different trends. What is the reason?
3. From the perspective of cropland, the loss of cultivated land is more serious under SSP126 and SSP126 scenarios, while the cropland area increases under SSP585 scenarios. What is the reason?
4. The forestland area decreased under SSP585, but improved under the other two scenarios. What is the reason?
Carbon storage under climate change
1. From the perspective of spatial distribution (Figure 8), the carbon storage in the central Yunnan urban agglomeration is higher in the western region and gradually decreases to the eastern region. What is the reason?
2. The areas with high carbon stor-age are mainly Chuxiong City, Yuxi City, Shiping County, Jianshui County and Gejiu City. The main reason is that this area is mostly woodland and grassland with high vegetation coverage. What is the evidence for this? Please support your result with the help of available literature.
Assessment of forest carbon storage
1. With the different development degrees of each scenario, the CO2 concentration in the air promoted the forest growth, increasing by 19.914×106 t and 7.591×106 t, respectively.. What is the reason?
Discussion
1. Improved the discussion by comparing your results with the available literature.
Conclusion
1. Please rewrite the conclusion which includes highlights of your results.
2. What do you recommend for the future?
3. What are the benefits of this study?
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
