Multiscale Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Soil Erosion and Its Influencing Factors in the Yellow River Basin
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
water-1867056-peer-review-v1
Title
The Title reflects the paper’s content accurately.
Abstract
The Abstract determines the paper’s content and objectives in a very manifest and complete fashion.
1. Introduction
In L31, add citations for all continents e.g., Asia [1] for reasons of specificity. In L39 add ‘which impact beneficially on water economics [2]’. In L42 after ‘[1]’ add ‘as seen in [3] despite some shortcomings of these methods [4].’. Otherwise, the Introduction is both adequate and highly informative.
2. Material and Methods
A large and economically important locale was selected as a study area and the description is pertinently optimal. Data sources are seen to be robust. Zhang’s method has a successful application history and the employment of the EPIC model for K is a good choice and so are the selections for the calculation of the L and S factors.
3. Results
Well supported and exhaustive, particularly in the q value result.
4. Discussion
The validation is correct and the rest of the analysis is complete.
5. Conclusions
Well written and in causal connection with previous sections
References
[1] Tilahun, M., P. Kumar, A. Singh, E. Apindi, E. Apindi, M. Schauer, J. Libera, and G. Lund, “The Economics of Land Degradation Neutrality in Asia: Empirical Analyses and Policy Implications for the Sustainable Development Goals,” German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Bonn, Germany, 2018.
[2] Zisopoulou, K., D. Zisopoulos, and D. Panagoulia, “Water Economics : An In-Depth Analysis of the Connection of Blue Water with Some Primary Level Aspects of Economic Theory I,” Water (Switzerland), vol. 14, no. 1, 2022, doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/w14010103.
[3] Zarris, D., M. Vlastara, and D. Panagoulia, “Sediment Delivery Assessment for a Transboundary Mediterranean Catchment: The Example of Nestos River Catchment,” Water Resour. Manag., vol. 25, no. 14, pp. 3785–3803, 2011, doi: 10.1007/s11269-011-9889-8.
[4] Alewell, C., P. Borrelli, K. Meusburger, and P. Panagos, “Using the USLE: Chances, challenges and limitations of soil erosion modelling,” Int. Soil Water Conserv. Res., vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 203–225, 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.iswcr.2019.05.004.
Author Response
Point 1: In L31, add citations for all continents e.g., Asia [1] for reasons of specificity. In L39 add ‘which impact beneficially on water economics [2]’. In L42 after ‘[1]’ add ‘as seen in [3] despite some shortcomings of these methods [4].’. Otherwise, the Introduction is both adequate and highly informative.
Response 1: Thank you very much for your suggestions. We have revised the manuscript.
In L31, the citation shown below was added:
Tilahun, M.; Singh, A.; Apindi, E.; Shaure, M.; Libera, J.; Lund, G. The Economics of Land Degradation Neutrality in Asia: Empirical Analyses and Policy Implications for the Sustainable Development Goals [M]. German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ): Bonn, Germany, 2018.
Panagos, P.; Katsoyiannis, A. Soil erosion modelling: The new challenges as the result of policy developments in Europe [J]. Environmental Research, 2019, 172: 470-474. 10.1016/j.envres.2019.02.043
Pravalie, R.; Patriche, C.; Borrelli, P.; Panagos, P.; Rosca, B.; Dumitrascu, M.; Nita, I.A.; Savulescu, I.; Birsan, M.V.; Bandoc, G. Arable lands under the pressure of multiple land degradation processes. A global perspective [J]. Environmental Research, 2021, 194. 10.1016/j.envres.2020.110697
In L39, content and citations were added. Modifications have been made in L39 and citations have been added.
The revised part of the introduction is shown below:
Soil erosion is one of the most serious ecological and environmental problems in the world[1-3]. It is not only a primary threat to food security, but also releases organic carbon sequestered in soil, which has a significant impact on the global carbon cycle and ultimately threatens human existence[4-8]. To solve this problem, it is crucial to explore the spatiotemporal characteristics of soil erosion and its influencing factors[9,10]. More and more attention has been paid to the multiscale effect analysis of soil erosion[9-11]. One of the research directions is to consider the uncertainty caused by the changes of administrative boundaries on soil erosion factors[5,7,9]. The research results can be directly applied to soil and water conservation management and planning[9,12], which impact beneficially on water economics[13].
The model of (R)USLE series is by far the most widely applied soil-erosion model globally[4] as seen in[14] despite some shortcomings of these methods[15].
Point 2: A large and economically important locale was selected as a study area and the description is pertinently optimal. Data sources are seen to be robust. Zhang’s method has a successful application history and the employment of the EPIC model for K is a good choice and so are the selections for the calculation of the L and S factors.
Response 2: Thank you for your comments.
Point 3: Well supported and exhaustive, particularly in the q value result.
Response 3: Thank you for your comments.
Point 4: The validation is correct and the rest of the analysis is complete.
Response 4: Thank you for your comments.
Point 5: Well written and in causal connection with previous sections.
Response 5: Thank you for your comments.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear editor,
The manuscript "Multiscale spatiotemporal characteristics of Soil erosion and its 2 influencing factors in the Yellow River Basin" submitted in Water Journal. It's a nice and terrific research with the collaboration of Chinese researchers about soil erosion modelling. The topic is so nice, but there are some major problems in this MS that I can't accept. Finally, I present some suggestions for improving the quality of this MS as following:
1. It is recommended to speak clearly and concisely about the conclusion of this research in the abstract. What is the achievement of this research for the scientific community?
2. In the introduction, it is recommended to talk more about water erosion damages in China and the necessity of research.
3. My main concern in the research method is related to the lack of spatial resolution in the studied maps (Section 2-2). For example 1) LU/LC= 1 km, 2) NDVI= 250 m, 3) DEM= 30m.
4. What is the spatial resolution of soil maps?
5. Please speak more about research innovation. At present, in this aspect, it desired knowledge does not bring outstanding achievements.
6. The research results are well written. Congratulations.
7. One of significant concerns is that the authors should carefully develop a discussion section to talk about the significance, shortages or advantages of the methods you proposed, the reliability and meaning of your results (compared to other related studies) etc.
8. I checked plagiarism detection of this research and the similarity is 29% and there are some concerns; please check the attached file. Be sure to correct the highlighted items in the attached file.
9. Please be sure that all the references cited in the manuscript are also included in the reference list and vice versa with matching spellings and dates.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Point 1: It is recommended to speak clearly and concisely about the conclusion of this research in the abstract. What is the achievement of this research for the scientific community?
Response 1: Thank you very much for your suggestions, which have greatly improvements for the manuscript. The conclusion of this study can be summarized as managers should pay attention to the role of human activities in the YRB for soil erosion, especially at small scales, in order to formulate low-er-cost and targeted soil and water conservation measures. This study not only conducts multiscale spatiotemporal analysis of soil erosion, but also further explores the role of influencing factors through multiscale spatiotemporal analysis of influencing factors. We have revised the abstract based on your suggestion.
Point 2: In the introduction, it is recommended to talk more about water erosion damages in China and the necessity of research.
Response 2: Thanks again for your suggestion, according to your suggestion, we have made the following modifications to the third paragraph of the introduction to supplement the need for water erosion hazards and research in the Yellow River Basin: As one of the most severely eroded areas in the world, the complex geomorphological features, easily eroded soil characteristics, and improper land use in the YRB made the soil vulnerable to erosion.[10,33]. In 2020, the hydraulic erosion area of the YRB will be 191,400 square kilometers[34]. The YRB is an important grain-producing area in China. Soil erosion destroys land resources in the watershed, and sediment takes away a large amount of soil nutrients such as N, P, K, etc., causing soil fertility degradation and restricting the growth of food production[35]. In addition, the congestion of downstream tributaries and rivers has promoted the occurrence of urban waterlogging to a certain extent, and directly affected people’s life safety[36]. Therefore, it is of great significance to carry out research on water erosion in the Yellow River Basin for food security, ecological protection and social development. In order to curb the continuous deterioration of the ecology and environment, the “Grain to Green Program”(GGP) in Gansu, Shaanxi and other provinces has been successively carried out since 1999. Deng et al.[37] evaluated the impact of the conversion of the GGP on soil erosion on the Loess Plateau from 2000 to 2018 and found that lost sediment has reduced by 348.7 Tg. Over the years, scholars have recognized the impact of human activities on soil erosion, but the spatiotemporal characteristics of the impact of human activities on soil erosion have not been thoroughly explored. Therefore, this study conducted a multiscale spatiotemporal characteristics analysis of the influencing factors of soil erosion not only from the basin scale, but also from the provincial, city and county scales.
Point 3: My main concern in the research method is related to the lack of spatial resolution in the studied maps (Section 2-2). For example 1) LU/LC= 1 km, 2) NDVI= 250 m, 3) DEM= 30m.
Response 3: Thank you very much for your suggestion, according to which we have supplemented the spatial resolution of the data.
Point 4: What is the spatial resolution of soil maps?
Response 4: Thank you very much for your question, the spatial resolution of the soil map is 1km, which we have supplemented in the manuscript.
Point 5: Please speak more about research innovation. At present, in this aspect, it desired knowledge does not bring outstanding achievements.
Response 5: Thank you very much for your comments. The RUSLE model used in this study to calculate soil erosion is not innovative enough to calculate soil erosion. Currently, there are studies that couple the RUSLE with the transport limited sediment delivery function to calculate the soil erosion modulus. I will make improvements in future research. In the multiscale analysis of influencing factors, we use the Optimal Parameters-based Geographical Detector, and OPGD can achieve better results than traditional geographic detectors. The main innovation of this paper is to conduct a multiscale spatiotemporal analysis of the influencing factors, not only from the Yellow River Basin scale, but also to analyze the influencing factors at the provincial, city and county scales. We have revised the innovation in the introduction based on your suggestion.
Point 6: The research results are well written. Congratulations.
Response 6: Thank you very much.
Point 7: One of significant concerns is that the authors should carefully develop a discussion section to talk about the significance, shortages or advantages of the methods you proposed, the reliability and meaning of your results (compared to other related studies) etc.
Response 7: Thank you for your suggestion, the comparison of the results with other studies is mainly in section 4.1 of the manuscript. Based on your suggestions, we have revised Section 4.3 (Uncertainty analysis and future perspectives) of the manuscript to illustrate the strengths of the method and provide a more in-depth analysis of the research gaps. 4.3 as follows: This paper not only analyzes soil erosion in the YRB, but also discusses the multiscale spatiotemporal characteristics of influencing factors. But there are still some uncertainty. Firstly, due to the insufficiency of regional experiments data and measured data, the RUSLE model was used to evaluate the soil erosion status in this study. Although the model passed the validation, the accuracy could be further improved.. Data with different sources and resolutions (e.g., DEM, precipitation, NDVI) lead to uncertainty in the model[70]. The R factor, LS factor, K factor and C factor are all calculated using empirical formulas, and the P factor is assigned according to the LU/LC, which all have a certain degree of subjectivity. In the further research, the transport limited sediment delivery (TLSD) function can be integrated and calibrated with RUSLE model.Secondly, this study did not conduct an in-depth analysis of the influencing factors at the scale of provincal, city and county. In further research, it is necessary to spatially visualize the spatial distribution of influencing factors, especially human activities, and further analyze the spatial distribution of influencing factors. At last, the soil erosion in the YRB is the most intense in the in June, July and August, and NDVI has a stronger explanatory power than slope, while from October to March, the soil erosion intensity is smaller, and slope has a stronger explanatory power than NDVI[10]. Therefore, data with higher precision and temporal resolution should be collected in future research to explore the seasonal changes in soil erosion and its influencing factors.
Point 8: I checked plagiarism detection of this research and the similarity is 29% and there are some concerns; please check the attached file. Be sure to correct the highlighted items in the attached file.
Response 8: Thank you for your suggestion, we will revise the article by comparing the attached file, and strive to reduce the similarity of the article.
Point 9: Please be sure that all the references cited in the manuscript are also included in the reference list and vice versa with matching spellings and dates.
Response 9: Thank you very much for the comments, we have reorganized the references of the article to avoid problems.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
I check track changes and it shows that there are many improvements. It can be published in this format as the final version.
