Snow cover dynamics in Andean watersheds of Chile (32.0–39.5° S) during the years 2000–2016

Stehr, Alejandra; Aguayo, Mauricio

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5111-2017

Articles | Volume 21, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5111-2017

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

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5111-2017

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

Articles | Volume 21, issue 10

Research article

|

11 Oct 2017

Research article |

| 11 Oct 2017

Snow cover dynamics in Andean watersheds of Chile (32.0–39.5° S) during the years 2000–2016

Alejandra Stehr and Mauricio Aguayo

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Final revised paper (published on 11 Oct 2017)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 20 Sep 2016)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

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

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Review', Anonymous Referee #1, 20 Oct 2016
- AC1: 'Response to comments', Alejandra Stehr, 07 Dec 2016
RC2: 'Comments to hess-2016-357', Anonymous Referee #2, 31 Oct 2016
- AC2: 'Response to comments', Alejandra Stehr, 07 Dec 2016

Peer-review completion

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

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (further review by Editor and Referees) (21 Dec 2016) by Stefan Uhlenbrook

AR by Alejandra Stehr on behalf of the Authors (06 Feb 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (08 Mar 2017) by Stefan Uhlenbrook

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (15 Mar 2017)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

General comments

I appreciate the revisions made by authors. However, I feel that there is still some revision needed (in order to make the contribution of the manuscript more significant). I would suggest to consider following points for a revision:

1) I like the added motivation and formulations on why and how is the Andes region different to the other parts of the world. These specific conditions need to be one of the main selling points of the manuscript. I would therefore recommend to further strengthen this message in the introduction and Discussion sections. The Introduction in its current form (e.g the part between p.7, l.30 – p.8, l.20 in the document with marked changes) is quit randomly organised (in terms of the main objectives of the paper). A more focused literature overview would be needed here. I would suggest to add references related to the changes (inter/intra annual variability) in snow cover area, snowline elevation, duration , etc. derived from MODIS images in other parts of the world. This will then allow to compare your results with other regions and demonstrate more clearly the value of your findings (differences and similarities obtained in such diverse climate region of Andes). (please look e.g. to literature in recent paper of Krajci et al., 2016, Variability of snow line elevation, snow cover area and depletion in the main Slovak basins in winters 2001-2014.).

2) Please consider to reformulate the main objectives of the paper. “Evaluate the suitability of MODIS as a tool” is probably not a very scientific research question. I would suggest to highlight the aim to analyse and evaluate the changes in spatial and temporal snow cover characteristics (you have selected) over the Andes and also to attribute these changes (if possible) to some climate characteristics (if possible).

3) I really appreciate the extension of the period used for analysis (to 2016). Please make consistent this change across the entire manuscript (use just one period, 2000-2016, in the title, abstract, data, results).

4) Discuss the findings more closely with respect to the literature related to the inter- and intra-annual variability of snow cover characteristics in other parts of the world (including factors that affect this change).

Specific comments

1) MODIS version. Please add which version of MODIS dataset is used (v005 or v 006?).

2) Please consider to add the equations used for validation (estimating overall accuracy, etc.) to the Methods section (E.g. by adding a subsection on validation)

3) Please be more specific how is the mean annual precipitation (over the basins) estimated?

4) Table 1 caption. Add the period in which the snow courses were repeated.

5) Fig.3 and Fig. 4 for Tolten basin and period 2012-2016 are not consistent. Fig. 3 indicates even larger snow cover area in these years, but the mean is lower. Why? Please check and add some discussion.

6) Fig. 7 is difficult to read. Perhaps, it will be more clear if the results will be organised according the basins (a panel for each basin and seasonal changes within this panel).

7) Please check the English (if this will not be a part of final proof-reading).

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RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (18 Apr 2017)

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (further review by Editor and Referees) (25 Apr 2017) by Stefan Uhlenbrook

AR by Alejandra Stehr on behalf of the Authors (18 Jun 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (18 Aug 2017) by Stefan Uhlenbrook

AR by Alejandra Stehr on behalf of the Authors (26 Aug 2017) Manuscript

Short summary

In Chile there is a lack of hydrological data, which complicates the analysis of important hydrological processes. In this study we validate a remote sensing product, i.e. the MODIS snow product, in Chile using ground observations, obtaining good results. Then MODIS was use to evaluated snow cover dynamic during 2000–2016 at five watersheds in Chile. The analysis shows that there is a significant reduction in snow cover area in two watersheds located in the northern part of the study area.

Snow cover dynamics in Andean watersheds of Chile (32.0–39.5° S) during the years 2000–2016

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Peer-review completion

Snow cover dynamics in Andean watersheds of Chile (32.0–39.5° S) during the years 2000–2016