Vertical Structure of Dust Aerosols Observed by a Ground-Based Raman Lidar with Polarization Capabilities in the Center of the Taklimakan Desert
, Zhongwei Huang 1,2,*, Meishi Li 1, Xingtai Shen 1, Yongkai Wang 1, Qingqing Dong 1, Jianrong Bi 1,2, Jiantao Zhang 3,4,5, Wuren Li 2, Ze Li 2 and Xiaodong Song 2Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In lines 59 to 62, the sentence "Gobi dust impacts..." appears again identically in lines 156-159.
The first paragraph of section 3. Results (lines 144-165) doesn't seem to be results. Perhaps it must be situated at the end of section 2. Lidar Systems and Methods.
Figures 3(a) and 4(b) are explained but they are not referenced in the text.
Author Response
Reply to the Review 1’s Report
We are truly grateful to the anonymous reviewers’ critical comments and thoughtful suggestions. The authors have taken the comments from reviewer seriously and addressed all comments in current revision. Below are our point-by-point responses to those comments.
- In lines 59 to 62, the sentence "Gobi dust impacts..." appears again identically in lines 156-159.
Response: As suggested by the reviewer, the sentence has been removed the manuscript.
- The first paragraph of section 3. Results (lines 144-165) doesn't seem to be results. Perhaps it must be situated at the end of section 2. Lidar Systems and Methods.
Response: The first paragraph of section 3 is a part of the result of this research and listed the result of other researches related to study area, so we think the current position is situated.
- Figures 3(a) and 4(b) are explained but they are not referenced in the text.
Response: Thanks for the reviewer’s remind, we have added the reference of these two figures in the manuscript.
Reviewer 2 Report
This paper describes the vertical structure of dust aerosols over Taklimakan desert based on the Lidar measurements data. The results are well described, and I think it is worth to be published after correcting minor comments. Please find my comments below.
Line 137-142: MODIS has several AOD products such as DT, DB, and MAIAC. The author should present clearly which products is used in this study. Also, this study is about Taklimakan desert but [53] is paper about Europe (from the title). So, I would recommend to change the reference.
Line 153-154: Is it based on the in-situ measurements? I think nobody can sure that East Asia aerosol has a greater ability to absorb solar radiation than the aerosols of Saharan Dust.
Line 171-180, Figure 4: Have you looked at the time-series plot with median value of AOD532 and AE470-870? Because of the high AOD or high AE values, sometimes median value of them could be more accurate to explain the trend.
Line 195: Gkikas et al. missing reference.
Line 209: Theodosi et al., missing reference.
Line 201: I think the author should mention the definition of Level 1.5 data.
Section 3: I suggest the author divide the results section into sub-sections with sub-titles. Currently, the results section is a long single section, so that the reader should go through all results sections to understand the details.
Line 215: Kabatas et al. (2014) wrong reference format.
Line 229 : Yang et al. (2013), wrong reference format. Please check this through the whole manuscript.
Author Response
Reply to the Review 2’s Report
We are truly grateful to the anonymous reviewers’ critical comments and thoughtful suggestions. The authors have taken the comments from reviewer seriously and addressed all comments in current revision. Below are our point-by-point responses to those comments.
- (1) Line 137-142: MODIS has several AOD products such as DT, DB, and MAIAC. The author should present clearly which products is used in this study.
(2) Also, this study is about Taklimakan desert but [53] is paper about Europe (from the title). So, I would recommend to change the reference.
Response: By following the reviewer’s suggestion, we have added descriptions of MODIS AOD products and changed the reference.
- Line 153-154: Is it based on the in-situ measurements? I think nobody can sure that East Asia aerosol has a greater ability to absorb solar radiation than the aerosols of Saharan Dust.
Response: We have changed the sentence to ‘East Asian dust more absorptive of solar radiation compared with the aerosols of Saharan dust’ and cited the reference.
- Line 171-180, Figure 4: Have you looked at the time-series plot with median value of AOD532 and AE470-870? Because of the high AOD or high AE values, sometimes median value of them could be more accurate to explain the trend.
Response: By following the reviewer’s suggestion, we have updated the Figure 4.
- Line 195: Gkikas et al. missing reference. Line 209: Theodosi et al., missing reference.
Response: By following the reviewer’s suggestion, two references have been added in the manuscript.
- Line 201: I think the author should mention the definition of Level 1.5 data.
Response: By following the reviewer’s suggestion, we have changed the statements in the manuscript.
- Section 3: I suggest the author divide the results section into sub-sections with sub-titles. Currently, the results section is a long single section, so that the reader should go through all results sections to understand the details.
Response: By following the reviewer’s suggestion, we have divided the results section into two parts.
- Line 215: Kabatas et al. (2014) wrong reference format. Line 229 : Yang et al. (2013), wrong reference format. Please check this through the whole manuscript.
Response: By following the reviewer’s suggestion, we have changed the format of two references and others throughout the manuscript.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Review of manuscript remotesensing-1697702
Title: Vertical structure of dust aerosols observed by a ground-based polarization Raman lidar in the center of the Taklimakan Desert
Authors: Shuang Zhang et al.
Summary: The authors provide lidar measurements of aerosol properties such as effective radius, angstrom exponent, depolarization ratio at Tazhong in the Taklimakan desert
Recommendation: accept
Comments: This is a solid manuscript and the aerosol data for the Taklimakan desert is quite valuable.
Author Response
Reply to the Review 3’s Report
We are truly grateful for the anonymous reviewers’ critical comments and thoughtful suggestions. The authors have taken the comments from the reviewer seriously and addressed all comments in the current revision. Below are our point-by-point responses to those comments.
- This is a solid manuscript and the aerosol data for the Taklimakan desert is quite valuable.
Response: Thanks for the reviewer’s comment and recognition.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
