An improved SWAT vegetation growth module and its evaluation for four tropical ecosystems

Alemayehu, Tadesse; van Griensven, Ann; Woldegiorgis, Befekadu Taddesse; Bauwens, Willy

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4449-2017

Articles | Volume 21, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4449-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Coupled terrestrial-aquatic approaches to watershed-scale...

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4449-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 9

Research article

|

07 Sep 2017

Research article |

| 07 Sep 2017

An improved SWAT vegetation growth module and its evaluation for four tropical ecosystems

Tadesse Alemayehu, Ann van Griensven, Befekadu Taddesse Woldegiorgis, and Willy Bauwens

Download

Final revised paper (published on 07 Sep 2017)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 24 Feb 2017)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

- Printer-friendly version

- Supplement

SC1: 'SC - general reflection on paper SWAT-T - comments added as pdf', Timo Brussée, 09 Mar 2017
- AC1: 'Response to T. Brussée', Tadesse Alemayehu, 22 Jun 2017
- AC4: 'Revised manuscript', Tadesse Alemayehu, 22 Jun 2017
RC1: 'review', Anonymous Referee #1, 24 Mar 2017
- AC2: 'Response to anonymous', Tadesse Alemayehu, 22 Jun 2017
- AC5: 'Revised manuscript', Tadesse Alemayehu, 22 Jun 2017
RC2: 'Review of hess-2017-104 by Alemayehu et al.: “Improved SWAT vegetation growth module for tropical ecosystem“', Anonymous Referee #2, 27 Mar 2017
- AC3: 'Response to anonymous referee #2', Tadesse Alemayehu, 22 Jun 2017
  - AC6: 'Revised manuscript', Tadesse Alemayehu, 22 Jun 2017

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by Editor and Referees) (25 Jun 2017) by xuesong zhang

Overall, I think the manuscript is adding new contributions to improved representation of growth cycle and LAI in the SWAT model.

I think the authors have tried to revise the manuscript according to the comments of the three referees. Many places throughout the manuscript have been improved and clarified. Given the revised form of the manuscript, I recommend the authors further improve the language and make further clarifications. Specifically, I have several comments that I hope the authors will address before re-submission:

(1) The current title is “An improved SWAT vegetation growth module for tropical ecosystem”. As the study only tested SWAT-T for evergreen forest, Tea, and two types of rangeland/grassland in one river basin, it would be better to make the tile more specific. Please think about “An improved SWAT vegetation growth module and its evaluation for three tropical ecosystems”.
(2) I also agree with T. Brussée and referee #2 that there are still grammar errors and confusing narrative in the manuscript. For example, line 294: “…models differs”; line 11 “…for tropical ecosystem”; line 13 “…reference evapotranspiration (PET)”; line 18: “… with a thermal-based evapotranspiration (ET-RS) estimate and observed streamflow”. It would be helpful if the manuscript will be further proofread.
(3) Please consider change the last sentence of the abstract to “The SWAT-T 19 model with the proposed improved vegetation growth module for tropical ecosystem can be a robust tool for simulating vegetation growth dynamics in hydrologic model applications in tropic regions”.
(4) Pleased double check how you addressed comment 1.226-27 from referee 2.
(5) In caption of Figure 8: change “seasonal LAI” to “monthly LAI”.
(6) The authors’ response to referee #1’s comment “line 175-181…” is not clear. Please specify if “kill operation” is used in the improved growth module.
(7) Did the authors make any clarification according to T. Brussée’s comment “Line 97 ‘poorly drained soils cover the plateau’ …”?

Also the revised manuscript will be further reviewed by the three referees who may provide additional comments.

Hide

AR by Tadesse Alemayehu on behalf of the Authors (18 Jul 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (30 Jul 2017) by xuesong zhang

AR by Tadesse Alemayehu on behalf of the Authors (01 Aug 2017) Manuscript

Short summary

The goal of this paper is to improve the vegetation growth modelling in SWAT for tropical ecosystems. Therefore, we propose a straightforward but robust soil moisture index (SMI) – a quotient of rainfall (P) and reference evapotranspiration (ET_r) – to dynamically initiate a new growth cycle within a predefined period. Our results for the Mara Basin (Kenya/Tanzania) show that the simulated LAI corresponds well with the MODIS LAI for for evergreen forest, savanna grassland and shrubland.