Assessing Climate Change Impact on Water Balance Components Using Integrated Groundwater–Surface Water Models (Case Study: Shazand Plain, Iran)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

It is an interesting paper that integrated the hydrological model MODFLOW-OWHM to simulate 14 groundwater level, surface water routing, and their interactions. The paper combines field information and desk information. In general, the paper can be published after doing a minor revision. The main points are listed below:

 1)    I missed the correlation between surface water and groundwater as presented in the Schematic of the research methodology (Figure 2).

2)    The results are not properly organized such as the authors did not clear the analysis of the catchment under the present. In addition, some of the results' contents are unclear or not well presented.

3)    The biggest problem is the discussion section, in fact, there is no discussion of the results at all.

4)    Conclusion is not well presented, the conclusion needs to conclude the results not repeat them again. 

Author Response

It is an interesting paper that integrated the hydrological model MODFLOW-OWHM to simulate 14 groundwater level, surface water routing, and their interactions. The paper combines field information and desk information. In general, the paper can be published after doing a minor revision. The main points are listed below:

Authors thank the respectful reviewer for the time devoted to read our paper. Your comments truly helped us to make the paper more interesting for the readers. In the revised paper, all the comments have been highlighted. Moreover, the respectful reviewer comments have been answered in details as the following.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,

I found your submitted paper interesting and acceptable for the journal Water.

Anyway, I still can recommend few changes in the text:

In keywords, please use the surface and ground water interactions, not abbreviations.

In the chapter Study area, please, include the information on the climate district according to the Koppen or Geiger-Koppen classification, and also the long-term mean annual temperature (eventually also potential evapotranspiration) and precipitation; as well as a table with mean monthly data. In Figure 1, the text should be probably: ... scheme of meteorological and hydrometric stations. 

In the chapter Water resources, please, provide there basic data on water balance. 

In Results, there should be discussed also the accuracy of the observed data and uncertainties in the outcomes provided by the applied models.

Conclusions might be shorter, just the points you gained by the analyses.  

Author Response

Reviewer 2: I found your submitted paper interesting and acceptable for the journal Water. Anyway, I still can recommend few changes in the text

The authors gratefully appreciate the reviewer’s time devoted to this paper and invaluable comments that thoroughly helped us enhance the paper’s quality for readers. In the revised paper, all comments have been highlighted. Moreover, the corresponding modifications in the paper are identically repeated in the following comments.

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript entitled "Assessing climate change impact on water balance components 3 using integrated groundwater-surface water models (Case 4 study: Shazand plain, Iran)" in general, is well written and with the appropriate manuscript structure in most cases. Nevertheless, some points must be addressed. In particular: 

1. In the abstract the authors should provide some information about the subject of their paper and not only the results of their work. Therefore the abstract should be rewritten. 

2. Please use the reference number system for citing other works, based on Instructions for Authors provided by Water, MDPI. In the text, reference numbers should be placed in square brackets [ ], and placed before the punctuation; for example [1], [1–3] or [1,3]. For embedded citations in the text with pagination, use both parentheses and brackets to indicate the reference number and page numbers; for example [5] (p. 10). or [6] (pp. 101–105).

3. Please use the appropriate way for figures and tables captions. Check again the Microsoft Word template.

4. In Figure 1 please enlarge the main map and decrease the size of the embedded map. Also in the embedded map please indicate the country of the study area. A figure should provide all the appropriate information.

5. P4L133 there is a message by word (Error! Reference source not found). This message should be deleted.

6. Please enlarge figure 2. At this point in not readable.

7. P6L196. There is a bullet with text. Is this ok or it is a subsection? Please check it.

8. P7L239. Align the text "where Q_sri is the....."

9. P8L258. there is a message by word (Error! Reference source not found). This message should be deleted.

10. Figure 5 is not readable. Please remake it.

11. The manuscript lucks the Discussion section. The authors should provide one. Discussion should provide the connection/review of the author's methodology to other works. "Authors should discuss the results and how they can be interpreted from the perspective of previous studies and of the working hypotheses. The findings and their implications should be discussed in the broadest context possible and the limitations of the work highlighted. Future research directions may also be mentioned."

12. Please provide a new diagram for Figure 6. This one is not a good one.

13. On page 10 there are a figure and two tables in a row. Please use text between them because the at this point is confusing for the reader. Also between Table 3 and Figure 8, Figure 9, figure 10, Table 5 and Table 6 and between Figure 10, 11, 12, and 13. 

14. P13L391-393 The text is moved on L393 "Table 5 and Table 6)".

15. References must be numbered in order of appearance in the text (including table captions and figure legends) and listed individually at the end of the manuscript. Please use the appropriate reference system. (https://www.mdpi.com/authors/references)

• Journal Articles:
  1. Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C.D. Title of the article. Abbreviated Journal Name Year, Volume, page range.
• Books and Book Chapters:
  2. Author 1, A.; Author 2, B. Book Title, 3rd ed.; Publisher: Publisher Location, Country, Year; pp. 154–196.
  3. Author 1, A.; Author 2, B. Title of the chapter. In Book Title, 2nd ed.; Editor 1, A., Editor 2, B., Eds.; Publisher: Publisher Location, Country, Year; Volume 3, pp. 154–196.
• Unpublished materials intended for publication:
  4. Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C. Title of Unpublished Work (optional). Correspondence Affiliation, City, State, Country. year, status (manuscript in preparation; to be submitted).
  5. Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C. Title of Unpublished Work. Abbreviated Journal Name year, phrase indicating stage of publication (submitted; accepted; in press).
• Unpublished materials not intended for publication:
  6. Author 1, A.B. (Affiliation, City, State, Country); Author 2, C. (Affiliation, City, State, Country). Phase describing the material, year. (phase: Personal communication; Private communication; Unpublished work; etc.)
• Conference Proceedings:
  7. Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C.D.; Author 3, E.F. Title of Presentation. In Title of the Collected Work (if available), Proceedings of the Name of the Conference, Location of Conference, Country, Date of Conference; Editor 1, Editor 2, Eds. (if available); Publisher: City, Country, Year (if available); Abstract Number (optional), Pagination (optional).
• Thesis:
  8. Author 1, A.B. Title of Thesis. Level of Thesis, Degree-Granting University, Location of University, Date of Completion.
• Websites:
  9. Title of Site. Available online: URL (accessed on Day Month Year).
  Unlike published works, websites may change over time or disappear, so we encourage you create an archive of the cited website using a service such as WebCite. Archived websites should be cited using the link provided as follows:
  10. Title of Site. URL (archived on Day Month Year).

Authors should discuss the results and how they can be interpreted in perspective of previous studies and of the working hypotheses. The findings and their implications should be discussed in the broadest context possible and limitations of the work highlighted. Future research directions may also be mentioned.

Author Response

The manuscript entitled "Assessing climate change impact on water balance components 3 using integrated groundwater-surface water models (Case 4 study: Shazand plain, Iran)" in general, is well written and with the appropriate manuscript structure in most cases. Nevertheless, some points must be addressed. In particular:

Authors thank a lot for the time and effort you devoted to our paper. Hereby, we addressed your comments to our best. The revised sections have been highlighted in the paper for easy tracking the improvements. Moreover, the respectful reviewer comments have been answered in details as the following.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear authors,

Thank you for addressing all of my comments. One last issue. In figure 1, in the embeded map just write "IRAN" inside the territory if Iran and not "Iran country" outside the territory of the country.

Author Response

Thank you for addressing all of my comments. One last issue. In figure 1, in the embeded map just write "IRAN" inside the territory if Iran and not "Iran country" outside the territory of the country.

Reviewer: We sincerely appreciate all your valuable comments and suggestions, which helped us in improving the quality of the manuscript.

Response: Thank you for the helpful comment. It was revised as you said. Also, the Markazi province and the location of Shazand were shown in the picture to make it clear for the readers.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx