Geometric and Material Variability of the Probability of Landward Slope Failure for Homogeneous River Levees
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This study quantifies for the first time the variability of the probability of a landside slope failure on homogeneous river levees using the Monte Carlo simulation. Experimental results show the performance of the proposed method is superior. However, some issues should be addressed before the publication. Especially, the experimental part and article structure needs to be strengthened.
Major issues: 1) This paper should add a chapter to introduce the experimental data in detail, and what are the main contributions of this work in the introduction?
2) The experimental part needs to be strengthened. The method proposed in this paper should be compared with other methods to prove that the performance of the method is better.
Minor issues: 1) The introduction is too simple, the background and research status are not introduced in detail. Some technologies applied in related fields, such as classification, super-resolution mapping and so on, should be introduced. Therefore, it is suggested to add some literature description e.g., [2] Nonnegative and Nonlocal Sparse Tensor Factorization-Based Hyperspectral Image Super-Resolution [J]. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2020, 58(12): 8384 - 8394. [1] Super-Resolution Mapping Based on Spatial-Spectral Correlation for Spectral Imagery [J]. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2021, 59(3): 2256-2268.
2) The English could be further improved. There are many grammatical errors in the article. Professional native speakers are recommended to proofread this article.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer01
Reviewer01: This study quantifies for the first time the variability of the probability of a landside slope failure on homogeneous river levees using the Monte Carlo simulation. Experimental results show the performance of the proposed method is superior. However, some issues should be addressed before the publication. Especially, the experimental part and article structure needs to be strengthened.
Dear Reviewer01, we thank you for the, in general, very positive evaluation and are happy to enter this scientific discussion. Below we show where and how we incorporated your concerns into the manuscript and give comments to enable our thoughts to be understood in detail.
Major issues: 1) This paper should add a chapter to introduce the experimental data in detail, and what are the main contributions of this work in the introduction?
Dear Reviewer01, we agree that the setup of the experiment should be the central point of the paper. For this reason, we have followed your suggestion and dedicated a main chapter to the empirical experiment while revising the article. So, now, the importance of the experiment is now taken into account in the chapters 3 and 4.
2) The experimental part needs to be strengthened. The method proposed in this paper should be compared with other methods to prove that the performance of the method is better.
Dear Reviewer01, thank you for your helpful feedback. With additional, introduction sentences in the methodology chapter and some restructuring, we now come to slope stability analyses by highlighting the approaches’ benefits.
Minor issues: 1) The introduction is too simple, the background and research status are not introduced in detail. Some technologies applied in related fields, such as classification, super-resolution mapping and so on, should be introduced. Therefore, it is suggested to add some literature description e.g., [2] Nonnegative and Nonlocal Sparse Tensor Factorization-Based Hyperspectral Image Super-Resolution [J]. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2020, 58(12): 8384 - 8394. [1] Super-Resolution Mapping Based on Spatial-Spectral Correlation for Spectral Imagery [J]. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2021, 59(3): 2256-2268.
Dear Reviewer01, thank you for your comment and the targeted support with two literature recommendations. Both aim in direction of image-based levee monitoring and have the potential to become highly relevant in the operation of flood protection levees - where low-cost approaches are very welcome. In connection with some other trends in holistic flood risk management, we have sharpened our introduction according to your feedback.
2) The English could be further improved. There are many grammatical errors in the article. Professional native speakers are recommended to proofread this article.
Dear Reviewer01, thank you for your guiding advice. We plan to make use of the MDPI’s author services in the last step before publication.
Sincerely,
Niklas Schwiersch
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript is well written and sufficient literature review carried out by authors.
It is stated by authors in line 304, "Both larger and smaller levee cross-sections are not considered. The authors assume that there are basically similar trends for different levee cross-sections." If authors can relate this with published literature then it would be more authentic rather than assumption.
Further, almost 90 percent literature is referenced from one country only and if authors should add more literature from some other regions of similar geographical characteristics.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer02
Reviewer02: The manuscript is well written and sufficient literature review carried out by authors.
Dear Reviewer02, we thank you for your positive evaluation and respect your minor concerns in detail. In the following, you’ll find each aspect commented and explained.
It is stated by authors in line 304, "Both larger and smaller levee cross-sections are not considered. The authors assume that there are basically similar trends for different levee cross-sections." If authors can relate this with published literature, then it would be more authentic rather than assumption.
Dear Reviewer02, we would like to follow your advice and help the study to become even more valid by referring to the results of similar studies, but to date we are not aware of any such. Even a literature search repeated during the revision phase unfortunately did not yield any usable results in this regard. If you have a direct literature suggestion on this aspect, we would be very grateful if you could share it with us.
Further, almost 90 percent literature is referenced from one country only and if authors should add more literature from some other regions of similar geographical characteristics.
Dear Reviewer02, thank you for this additional reminder. During the revision phase, we added some pieces of literature and payed attention to mostly add references from Non-German authors.
Sincerely,
Niklas Schwiersch
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Thanks for the authors' detailed reply. I have no other questions here.
