Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Dust Storms and Aeolian Processes in the Southern Balkash Deserts in Kazakhstan, Central Asia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

 In general, this paper has a good logical structure, it is written clearly and it respects the format requested by this journal. I have some doubts about row 103 when you wrote "...The climate of the deserts is continental and arid..".Considering the long periods of observation that you used do you identify some fluctuations in air temperature attributable to climate change?

I suggest adding these works in your references:

-Temperature trend analysis and investigation on a case of variability climate. -Climatology of dust storm frequency and its association with temperature and precipitation patterns over Pakistan.

In my opinion, in this work, there is a lacuna in the mineral classification of dust (row 165). I advise adding some percentual values about classification and eventual change in time. 

In row 82 there is a little distraction error about the measurement unit.

It is necessary to improve the conclusions. They are too short; what will be developed in the future?

Good luck and good work.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This manuscript needs a lot of corrections. In the abstract, there is no mention of the data and methodology. The contents presented in the introduction is very fragmented and lacks coherence. Many of the studies presented in the introduction are unrelated to the work and similar studies in this area are not mentioned. In addition, many of the articles and studies mentioned are very old and the references need to be updated. In the section “Materials and Methods”, the methodology is not presented, and it is not clear to the reader that each of the data was used for what purpose and how the final results were obtained. The used cartographic data are not well presented. Due to the importance of these data, it is necessary to briefly present the spatial resolution, time period and how to calculate them. The contents presented in the conclusion section is also very general and unrelated to the study. The most important results should be presented in this section. Other required corrections represented as comments in the attached file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Conclusions and citations do not satisfy the suggestions given in the first revision.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Almost all required corrections have been made and the manuscript is acceptable.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you so much for all the helpful and constructive comments which have significantly improved the manuscript. We have read through the manuscript, and have our manuscript checked and revised again to improve the final version of the manuscript.

Thank you again for your valuable comments and time invested in our manuscript.

Yours sincerely,

Yongxiao Ge

Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences