Monitoring Sand Drift Potential and Sand Dune Mobility over the Last Three Decades (Khartouran Erg, Sabzevar, NE Iran)
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In the article, it is necessary to complete the methodology and material, because many parts are not clearly or not defined at all. It is also necessary to carefully add the units used, e.g. VU. I recommend using SI units, e.g. "knot" to replace m.s-1. Other comments are marked directly in the text.
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Reviewer 2 Report
Because I do not believe this paper is acceptable in this form, I have not provided detailed comments on the manuscript. However, the authors might like to note that what they have called the 'uni-directional index' (also variously the unify index and the unit index) was termed the index of directional variability by Fryberger: it is not a measure of uni-directionality but of directional variability more generally.
For a more recent approach to exploring the impact of climate variability on sand drift potentials, the authors might like to look, for instance, at Mayaud et al. (2017 Scientific Reports 7) which builds on Thomas et al. (2005 Nature 435 1218-1221).
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Reviewer 3 Report
The study investigates the wind regime in NE Iran and tries to link its change to the mobility of sand dunes in the region. The paper is well written, and the methods seems scientifically sound. However, the study is basically an analysis of wind data and their link to the actual sand mobility is missing. If no measurements are taken to validate the aeolian transport in the study area, a more in-depth literature review covering the validation of the equations in other regions should be added. This would significantly improve the paper. In addition, a section could be added to discuss the evolution of the sand dunes in the region. It is briefly mentioned at the end of the discussion but a direct link between the dunes/sediment transport and the wind regime would have the paper a more solid argument for the study.
For example, in the conclusion, it is highlighted that there is an increasing trend in wind speed (especially in 2003-2008), can you potentially highlight other peaks, or could you link the peak in that period to an actual increase in sediment movement in the area or mobility of the dunes?
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Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
I think the authors have edited all the essential comments and I recommend publishing the article.
Author Response
Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions to improve our paper.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
I have no further comments for the authors.
Author Response
Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions to improve our paper.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The authors addressed the comments which improved the paper. No further comments from me.
Author Response
Thank you for your comments and suggestions to improve our paper.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
