Features of Urban Heat Island in Mountainous Chongqing from a Dense Surface Monitoring Network

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors have revised the original manuscript well. This reviewer recommends publication.

Author Response

Reviewer 1 has no further comments.

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors improved the paper as suggested. I think it is suitable for publication now.

Author Response

Reviewer 2 has no further comments.

Reviewer 3 Report

Thanks for your revision. I only have one more comments:

please add the reason of the sudden decrease of UHII in June which was explained in the reply letter in the manuscript.

Overall, the authors have developed considerable changes that have significantly improved the quality of the manuscript.

Author Response

Please see the attached file.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper presents features of diurnal and seasonal variations of UHI intensity in mountainous Chongqing using surface observational data. This paper is well organized and very well written and contains newly analyzed results for that area and reasonable interpretation of the results. The current version of this paper is enough for recommending a publication in Atmosphere. This reviewer has only a few minor comments.

(1) A literature review reveals that some cities experience strongest UHI intensity in cold season (winter), while other cities experience strongest UBI intensity in warm season (summer). This is associated with many factors such as geographical location and large-scale climate. This is not “conflicting conclusions” (L50-51). More references would be helpful to readers, especially for big cities in China (e.g., Beijing) and big cities in adjacent countries (e.g., Ulaanbaatar, Ganbat et al., APJAS, 2013). (2) Rural, suburban, and urban areas are classified by NNLI of 0.03 and 0.20. Please add a reference or rationale for these values. (3) Data homogeneity is one of the important issues in calculating UHI intensity (here, topography). In this regard, a little more quantitative description of the temperature lapse rate might be nice (e.g., the linear regression equation). (4) The 10-m wind speed in the study area appears to be weak compared with other regions. Is local circulation (mountain/valley winds), particularly in warm season, prominent in the study area? (5) The maximum UHI intensity is observed at ~00 LST. Why? The rural cooling continues after that time. (6) A close look at Figure 3c also shows an urban cool island. Any comment on this? (7) The authors connect UHI intensity to a few factors including anthropogenic heat release. Their interpretation is qualitatively consistent with the results of many previous studies.

Author Response

Please see the attached file.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This is an interesting work which examines the urban heat island intensity (UHII) in a mountainous context and underlines its presence also showing differences between the morning and the night. However, there are some problems with the manuscript.

1)      In the abstract you cite the parameter “b” without explaining what it is. Besides at Line 182 a small description of that coefficient could be useful.

2)      At Line 30 and at Line 35 some reference to other scientific works could get the introduction of  your paper stronger. The following important references should be cited:

·         Morini E. et al, Optic-energy performance improvement of exterior paints for buildings, Energy and Buildings. Volume 139, 15 March 2017, Pages 690-701

·         Castaldo V.L. et al, Thermal-energy analysis of natural "cool" stone aggregates as passive cooling and global warming mitigation technique, Urban Climate Volume 14, December 01, 2015, Pages 301-314

·         Morini E. et al, Evaluation of albedo enhancement to mitigate impacts of urban heat island in Rome (Italy) using WRF meteorological model, Urban Climate, Volume 24, June 2018, Pages 551-566

·         Yang J. et al, Green and cool roofs’ urban heat island mitigation potential in tropical climate, Solar Energy, Volume 173, October 2018, Pages 597-609

·         Nouri A.S. et al, Approaches to outdoor thermal comfort thresholds through public space design: A review, Atmosphere, Volume 9, Issue 3, 14 March 2018, Article number 108

3)      Line 88. How the possible erroneous data have been selected and in which way you replaced them with other data?

4)      Line 99. Can you discuss why the remote-sensed nighttime light could be used to well quantify the urban development? Is it the most appropriate way to describe it in a mountainous region?

5)      Line 118. Here you should explain in more in depth what you have done, furthermore some citation of works in which similar solutions have been adopted might be useful.

6)      Line 231. Is not possible to  add the picture you mentioned in order to better show what you are supporting?

Author Response

Please see the attached file.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Please see the attachment.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attached file.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf