Three-Dimensional Visualization of Long-Range Atmospheric Transport of Crop Pathogens and Insect Pests

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Manuscript: MDPI_atmosphere_2335068
Article Title: Three-dimensional visualization of long-range atmospheric transport of crop pathogens and insect pests

Authors: Meyer et al.

General comments:

11)      The article and supplementary information report on the development of 3D visualization techniques using two examples of long-range transport dispersal, namely of wheat rust outbreaks and dispersion and of the simulated movement of desert locusts.

22)      Data generation for demonstration of 3-D visualization methods relies on the UKMO NAME dispersion model and the HYSPLIT atmospheric transport model. The authors describe their efforts to streamline data flow and integration between the atmospheric transport models and the 3-D visualization tools Met.3D and ParaView. The focus of the authors is on developing different three-dimensional views of the large amount of time-dependent data generated in the simulations.

33)      To test the effectiveness and usefulness of the 3-D visualizations in the case of monitoring and managing long range pest/disease outbreaks, compared to using existing conventional 2-D methods, the authors discuss the insights gained from 3D-visualization in the context of two operational crop disease/pest management systems in East Africa and South Asia.

44)      The paper is very well written and despite of underlying complex simulation processes it is generally easy to read and understand.

55)      The Figures provided giving examples and snapshots of the animated 3D-visualizations are not very clear and inspiring but mainly serve as a pointer to the animated materials provided in the supplementary information, which are essential to appreciate the work undertaken by the authors. Figure 1 seems to be taken from a poster presentation. I find it not very useful and if retained should be improved for use in a journal article.

66)      Table 1 gives a fair overview and discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed very resource-intensive visualization methods. They conclude that 3-D visualization may not add much value to better understanding pest outbreaks and dispersion in a large number of ‘simple’ transport processes, but that the new techniques developed by the authors can provide new insights into dynamics in situations of complex terrain and atmospheric conditions. Obviously, the improvement of visualization has to go hand-in-hand with improvements of 3-D transport simulations where multi-dimensional data for model calibration and validation is generally lacking.

77)      In summary, the article does a good job in presenting the objectives, data and methods of the authors. Their research still has a more explorative character and the details and circumstances when 3-D visualization can distinctively improve operational early warning systems are yet to be verified.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper writing structure is not organized. The presented information from materials and methods to the results and discussion need to be re-written with concentration. Study sites are not well defined. The novelty of the paper is not clear. The only table presented in the paper is very wordy. Too long figures captions. No conclusion section.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Reviewer’s Report on the manuscript entitled:

Three-dimensional visualization of long-range atmospheric transport of crop pathogens and insect pests

The authors investigated the feasibility and usefulness of new advanced geospatial data visualization methods for studying extremely long-distance airborne transmission events of crop pathogens and insect pests. They also prepared some videos for 3D visualization that are useful. I found the topic and results interesting, but the presentation and literature review can be improved. Please see below my comments.

Literature review can be improved.

Line 48. Some recent works for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for crop disease monitoring can also be included here, such as

https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14051239

Line 53. The following recent article can also be included here for crop airborne disease:

https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11213462

 

Line 102. Some recent papers for monitoring the health of crops using remote sensing vegetation index time series through GEE and 2D visualization can also be added here, such as

https://doi.org/10.3390/s22051942

https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12121930

 

Line 158. You suddenly jumped into Section 2.3. Where are Sections 2.1 and 2.2? Please follow the MDPI guideline. Section 2.1 is usually the description of your study region. Section 2.2 are datasets and Section 2.3 are the methods.  

 

In Section 2.1 Study region. Please show a map of your study region and describe its basic climate and land cover properties.

 

Line 160. Please define “NAME”. Please check and define all the acronyms the first time they appeared.

 

Lines 292, 232, 355, etc. Please use the regular font not italic.

 

Please add a Conclusions section and also mention the future direction in it.

 

Finally, this manuscript must be carefully proofread to correct all the grammar/punctuation/style issues.

 

Thank you!

Regards,

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors did good job in responding to the reviewers comments. More but minor comments are:

Line 129: Yemen and Saudi Arabia located at south-west Asia not south-east Asia.

Line 130: It is better to specify exactly how many trial sites were selected for this study.

Figure 3: Study location in Saudi Arabia is not clear

I recommend to delete table 1 and embed its information as paragraphs under discussion section.

Reviewer 3 Report

Thank you for addressing my comments. I have a few more comments:

Figure 3. Please add the geographical latitude and longitude for your map and increase the font size of the legend.

Lines 434-441. You can use the authors abbreviations here only.

Line 356. Please add a sentence for recommendation and future direction

Please carefully proofread the manuscript

Thank you for your contribution

Regards,