Articles | Volume 29, issue 22
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6461-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Impact of rainfall variability on sedimentary and hydropower dynamics in a dam reservoir of southern France
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- Final revised paper (published on 19 Nov 2025)
- Supplement to the final revised paper
- Preprint (discussion started on 17 Jun 2025)
- Supplement to the preprint
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Status: closed
Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-2127', Anonymous Referee #1, 13 Jul 2025
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Paul Hazet, 05 Sep 2025
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-2127', Anonymous Referee #2, 18 Aug 2025
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Paul Hazet, 05 Sep 2025
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AR – Author's response | RR – Referee report | ED – Editor decision | EF – Editorial file upload
ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (06 Sep 2025) by Lixin Wang
AR by Paul Hazet on behalf of the Authors (21 Sep 2025)
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ED: Publish as is (22 Sep 2025) by Lixin Wang
AR by Paul Hazet on behalf of the Authors (23 Sep 2025)
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This paper investigates the interplay of rainfall, water level management, and sedimentary infill variability on the operational dynamics of a dam reservoir in southern France. The authors employ a multi-faceted approach, combining analyses of sediment cores, precipitation data, and hydropower variations. Their research highlights significant alterations in the regional rainfall regime over recent decades, particularly a marked increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme events during winter and fall. These climatic shifts are associated with elevated sedimentation rates and a reduction in hydropower generation.
The findings of this study are particularly pertinent, offering a substantial contribution to understanding contemporary challenges related to the evolution of hydropower production and, more generally, reservoir functionality throughout the 21st century. The paper is commendably robust in its methodology, data analysis, and structural organization. The application of the MAR approach for this purpose, alongside other rigorous statistical analyses of temporal data, is especially valuable. The cross-referencing of sediment core data with time series measurements represents a particularly intricate and well-executed aspect of the research.
My comments are primarily minor and pertain to formatting. I encourage the authors to undertake a detailed proofreading to rectify small inconsistencies such as "Fig.??" (§ 430) and to ensure consistent formulations, for example, with phrases like "5 presents…" (§ 365). Furthermore, subsection 4.2 would benefit from a more comprehensive explanation of the 137Cs peak attribution. The reported dating of the Chernobyl peak at 1989, based on the calculated age-model, introduces some ambiguity; a clearer exposition of how this aligns with the model's inherent uncertainty would enhance clarity.