Changes in Vegetation Period Length in Slovakia under the Conditions of Climate Change for 1931–2110
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The current study tried to analyse the changes in vegetation periods in Slovakia due to climate change based on only temperature. My major comments are
1. How the future temperature data is generated is not clearly mentioned?
2. The formula 1 and 2 is not clear to me. Can you show the calculation for one particular year as an example?
3. What was parameter used for interpolation? Interpolation method is not clear.
4. The language of the manuscript needs improvement.
5. The flow in discussion section is missing.
My specific comments are
L15: “were processed map outputs in ArcGIS.” To “map outputs were generated in ArcGIS.”
L16: “predicted showed” to “future showed”
L17: “autumn in the last 30 years” to “autumn during the last 30 years”
L19: “in northern part of Slovakia is potential” to “northern part of Slovakia is potentially”
L20: “south is lack” to “south lack”
Keywords: Choose some other keywords in place of “map outputs; prediction”
L24: What are those changes? Please specify.
L31: “showed increasing the average temperature” to “showed increase in the average temperature”
L35: What do you mean by “in each of the next five years (2020-2024)” though you have shown for 2020-24?
L39: “climate projections show” to “climate projections showed”
L40: “with a 48% probability” to “with a 48% probability that”
L41: “years 2022 and 2026” to “years between 2022 and 2026”
L47: Please specify the base years of 100 years
L50: What was the base period for calculation of 5.6% decrease?
L52: “the growth” to “the increase”
L78: “has a various climate” to “has various climates”
L90-91: “For this study were analysed monthly air temperatures in periods 1931-1960, 1961-1990 and 1991-2020 at 24 meteorological stations in Slovakia” to “For this study, monthly air temperatures in periods 1931-1960, 1961-1990 and 1991-2020 for 24 meteorological stations in Slovakia were analysed”
L128-131: Delete
L133-135: “For each mete-orological station was calculated by mathematical function linear trendline for the maxi-mum duration of the vegetation period.” To “For each mete-orological station, the maxi-mum duration of the vegetation period was calculated by mathematical function linear trendline.”
L139-144: Delete
L146-148: What kind of data was used for interpolation? Elevation?
Table 2: Provide the URL for CLC, CHA data
L172-173: “The Great vegetation period lasted in the period 1931-1960 (Figure 3a) in the north of Slovakia (station Oravská Lesná) from 21.4. until 16.10., which represents 179 days.” To “The Great vegetation period during 1931-1960 (Figure 3a) in the north of Slovakia (station Oravská Lesná) lasted for 179 days from 21.4. until 16.10.”
L173: What do you mean by “from 21.4. until 16.10”?
L179: Mention the time period
L190-192: “The Main vegetation period lasted from 1931-1960 (Figure 4a) in the Oravská Lesná location from 20.5. until 16.9., a total of 120 days. In the south, in Hurbanovo, there was a period with temperatures T ≥ 10°C from 12.4. until 15.10., which represents 187 days.” To “The Main vegetation period from 1931-1960 (Figure 4a) in the Oravská Lesná location lasted 120 days (20.5 until 16.9). In the south, in Hurbanovo, the period with temperatures T ≥ 10°C was 187 days (12.4 until 15.10).”
L219: “The longest vegetation period is recorded” to “The longest vegetation period was recorded”
L221: “1961 - 1990 is influenced” to “1961 - 1990 was influenced”
L227: “summer will be extended from 58 days to 148 days” to “summer will extend from 58 days to 148 days”
L231-233: Rewrite it.
L245: “et al. [29] analyses show” to “et al. [29] analyses showed”
L247: “Sar et al. [30] evaluation by the representative” to “Sar et al. [30] evaluation of the representative”
L250: “increase the length of vegetation period general from” to “increase in the length of vegetation period from”
L251: “The concludes from our study” to “The conclusions from our study”
L296-297: “In this areas are according to Vilček and Koco [42] medium productive, low productive and very low productive agricultural soils.” To “These areas are having very low to medium productive agricultural soils [42].”
L303-305: Delete
L317: “Slovakia is potential limited” to “Slovakia potential is limited"
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
I read the manuscript entitled 'Changes in vegetation periods in Slovakia due to climate change – visualization and prediction for the periods 2021-2050, 2051-2080 and 2081-2110' thoroughly and finds that the study has a scope. However, the manuscript can't be published in the current form. I have some suggestions which will definitely improve the quality of the paper.
1. I am not satisfied with the title of the paper; should be modified
2. Abstract has many illogical sentences which must be checked and rephrased.
3. Keywords should be selected carefully; some of the keyword like map output should be replaced.
4. Introduction is well written; however, some sentences need revision.
5. Methodological section is poorly written. The methodology must include the references like line 99-100.
6. Results are well written.
7. Discussion needs some revisions and should justify the results clearly.
8. Overall, the manuscript is not written in a scientific manner and needs major revision before processing further.
9. The manuscript is full of grammatical errors and some illogical sentences which must be rephrased.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Some of the results require more and more detailed explanations such as:
• Why do the authors use these formulas to determine the start and end date of a sustainable transition at 5, 10, and 15℃, and how do these formulas respond to early warming and cooling?
According to the WMO recommendations, the permanent transition day is defined as a period of 3-5 consecutive days during which the sum of the positive and negative deviations from a set threshold level of the average daily temperature is equal to zero.
• The increase in the duration of the vegetation period makes sense only in combination with a certain amount of precipitation, for which there are only summarized data in the presented development;
• The longer duration of periods with temperatures ≥ 5, 10, and 15℃ also means the probability of increasing the maximum temperatures above 28℃, which is the upper limit of the optimal temperatures for physiological processes. Temperatures above 28℃ cause stress in plant organisms and arrest or even stop growth processes.
It is precisely these features that the authors failed to note, i.e. what is the number of days during these periods in which Tmax ≥ 28℃
From this point of view, the work has more contributions in the field of application of ArcGIS (ESRI), such as map systems, interpolation methods, digital terrain model (DTM), etc., and a low level of contribution for agronomy and agro-meteorology.
The title “Changes in vegetation periods in Slovakia due to climate change – visualization and prediction for the periods 2021-2050, 2051-2080, and 2081-2110” is too long
The presented development is precisely shaped and all parts are subordinated to the purpose of the study. 42 titles are cited in the reference list, all noted in the text.
I recommend changing it as follows - "Changes in vegetation periods in Slovakia due to climate change - prediction for the near and far future periods".
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The title should be “Changes in Vegetation Periods Length in Slovakia under the Conditions of Climate Change for 1931-2110”
I will suggest the authors to include the example calculation for formula 1 and 2. It will improve the quality of the paper.
Author Response
Thank you for the review. We modified the title of the article according to the comment.
Thanks for the suggestion. Given that these formulas (1 and 2) are used to calculate temperatures T ≥ 5.0 °C, T ≥ 10.0 °C and T ≥ 15.0 °C and separately for each meteorological station, the inclusion in the article would be complicated and long. Therefore, we will provide an example of the calculation for one temperature and station in the "Supplementary materials" section.
Reviewer 2 Report
I endorse the paper for publication in the present form.
Author Response
Thank you for the review and approval to publish the article.
