Climate Change Impact on the Duration of Great Vegetation Period and Vegetation Period of Beetroot and Watermelon in Slovakia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The general manuscript provides some interesting results. However, the authors must make it more transparent, improve their writing and highlight their research outcomes. The authors must also highlight the significance of their research and how it is different or add further information than previous works. Primarily, the introduction and conclusions section has significant scope for improvement.

Nevertheless, the manuscript does promise a significant contribution with revision and clarification. Therefore, the following are some comments that the authors must address before the manuscript can be considered for publication.

 Lines 17-18: "In this work, we focused on evaluating changes and predicting the duration of the great vegetation period." The authors must explain the great vegetation period before using it.

Lines 122-123: "Subsequently, the interpolation and the creation of a climate model using data from weather stations was initiated." The authors must elaborate on the climate model.

Lines 201-202: A2 and B1 scenarios are unclear.

Line 229: 20175 must be corrected.

Lines 242-244: "The results of the work show that due to climate change, the average air temperature has been increasing in Slovakia from 1961 to the present, with the exception of the colder period 1971–1980." The authors fail to show this in their results.  

Figures 3 and 4: The visualization of the results must be improved. For example, an anomaly in the plot will highlight the change in vegetation periods.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Please find the attached document.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

I appreciate the authors for significantly improving the manuscript according to the reviewers' comments and suggestions. However, there is scope for improving the English language and style to improve scientific soundness.

Following, I have mentioned additional comments that must be addressed.

Lines 13-15: "An increase in the average global temperature is observed, weather fluctuations are more often recorded, periods of drought and heat alternate with local floods, winters are often without snow." Please rewrite the sentence for clarity and conciseness:

Lines 18-19: "The analyses were related to the period 1961–2020." Please rewrite the sentence for clarity.

Unclear comparison in Line 23: "(compared to 1971-1980 and 2011-2020)."

Lines 24-26: "For the watermelon, is an increase in the vegetation period by 5-10 days (compared to 1971-1980 and 2011-2020). By 2091-2100 it will be extended by 35-40 days." Please rewrite the sentence for clarity and conciseness.

Lines 58-59: "Global warming in Slovakia has resulted in an increased average annual air temperature of 1.1 °C over the last 100 years (1901-2000).". Global warming in Slovakia is inappropriate. Please rewrite the sentence: "Global warming has increased the average annual air temperature by about 1.1 °C over the last 100 years (1901-2000) in Slovakia.

Lines 60-61: "The warmest 12 years have been recorded since the early 1990s." Which 12 years?

Lines 66-73: "Within the project "Demand-driven research for the sustainable and innovative food, Drive4SIFood 313011V336, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund", Topic 6: Agroclimatic regionalization as a model solution to the consequences of climate change in the complex of ecosystem services and KEGA project No. 026SPU-4/2020 "Climate change and its impact on the temperature conditions of Slovakia" we focused on the impact of changes in agroclimatic conditions on the development of the growing seasons of selected agricultural crops with the assumption of future development.". The authors must realize if this information is absolutely necessary. They must also rephrase the long sentence to smaller, clearer, and appropriate for the introduction.

Line 89: "An annual average is from 9 to 11 °C." Please rewrite the sentence for clarity.

Line 90: "In the basins and valleys of rivers....". Please rewrite it to "In the river basins and valleys......."

Lines 91-93: "In Slovakia, the average annual rainfall varies from less than 500 mm to approximately 2,000 mm in the High Tatras mountains [37]." "from less than 500 mm to approximately 2,000 mm" does not make much sense.

Lines 105-107: "From the data, we created a graph of temperature development for decades from 1961 to 2020 at altitudes up to 200 m, 200-400 m, 400-600 m, 600-800 m and above 800 m a.s.l." Please refer to the figure number here. Please elaborate on the abbreviation "a.s.l."

Line 186: Please improve the visualization of figure 2 for clarity.

Figure 3. The authors should use "beetroot" instead of its scientific name, similar to the changes made in the article title.

Figure 4: The authors should use "watermelon" instead of its scientific name.

Line 295: "with the exception of the colder period 1971–1980.". Do the authors show this in their results?

Lines 299-302: "For the great vegetation period, an increase is expected by an average of 25–30 days for the horizon of 2091–2100 compared to the present. The forecasted extension of the vegetation period duration is by approximately 10–15 days and 30–35 days for beetroot and watermelon, respectively.": An anomaly plot (2091–2100 compared to the present) will highlight this work's conclusions.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The revised manuscript is substantially improved and can step forward to the publishing process.

Author Response

We thank the reviewer for his comments and we are glad that after incorporating them, the opponent is satisfied with the manuscript. English grammar and style have also been revised.