Impact of Climate Change in the Banat Plain, Western Romania, on the Accessibility of Water for Crop Production in Agriculture

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript is very well-written. The language is the appropriate one and in an advanced level. The bibliography has a variety through time, but it could be more recent.

In line 200-201, it is said that Thorthwait is suitable for Romania. How is that come from? It needs an explanation or a reference.  Why authors did not use another equation?

In the equations, it is better to be given a formula for the K factor.

Also, in order not to be a misunderstanding, it is more suitable commas (,) in the figures to be replaced with points (.).

It is a very good analysis, but I disagree with the novelty. It tends to be a very good report. Furthermore, it is missing a discussion, talking about measures as a better water management according the directions of water regime and proposals for the problem that occurs in the region and it needs to be done a discussion about agriculture.

Minor comments

Fix

Line 68 reference

Line 211 explain K factor

Line 382 temperature factor?

Line 477 reference

Author Response

Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions!

We have revised the entire paper according to your comments.

Please find enclosed our responses for every comment that you have made.

Comment 1. The manuscript is very well-written. The language is the appropriate one and in an advanced level. The bibliography has a variety through time, but it could be more recent.

Response: I have added to the bibliography a few recent titles:

Nr 9. Heil K.; Lehner A.; Schmidhalter U. Influence of Climate Conditions on the Temporal Development of Wheat Yields in a Long-Term Experiment in an Area with Pleistocene Loess, Climate 2020, 8, 100. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli8090100

Nr. 10.   Lüttger, A.B.; Feike, T. Development of heat and drought related extreme weather events and their effect on winter wheat yields in Germany. Theor. Appl. Clim. 2018, 132, 15–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-017-2076-y

Nr..46.   Maricar Aguilos , Clément Stahl, Benoit Burban , Bruno Hérault, Elodie Courtois,Sabrina Coste 1, Fabien Wagner , Camille Ziegler, Kentaro Takagi  and Damien Bonal. Interannual and Seasonal Variations in Ecosystem Transpiration and Water Use Efficiency in a Tropical Rainforest, Forests 2019, 10, 14, 2019 doi:10.3390/f10010014

Nr.47.    Boese, S.; Jung, M.; Carvalhais, N.; Reichstein, M. The importance of radiation for semi-empirical water-use efficiency models. Biogeosciences 2017, 14, 3015–3026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3015-2017

Comment 2. In line 200-201, it is said that Thorthwait is suitable for Romania. How is that come from? It needs an explanation or a reference. 

Response: This affirmation is not supported by bibliographic references, but only by direct observations through lisimiters, and because I cannot cite these observations, I will give up in the text to this statement.

Comment 3. Why authors did not use another equation? In the equations, it is better to be given a formula for the K factor.

Response: I used the Thornthwaite formula because the equation only requires mean monthly air temperature and mean daily daylight hours for each month, which can be calculated from latitude, K coefficient.

The recordings performed at Timișoara Meteo Station, even since 1897, have been referring only to temperature and precipitations, not giving any other data about other climatic indicators which are necessary in more complex formula of the evapotranspiration.

K is a coefficient calculated according to the sunshine duration and latitude.

Comment 4. Also, in order not to be a misunderstanding, it is more suitable commas (,) in the figures to be replaced with points (.).

Response: According to recommendations, I have corrected all (,) cu (.)

Comment 5. It is a very good analysis, but I disagree with the noveltyIt tends to be a very good report. Furthermore, it is missing a discussion, talking about measures as a better water management according the directions of water regime and proposals for the problem that occurs in the region and it needs to be done a discussion about agriculture.

Response: . I have replaced from the introduction, the word” novelty” with the word” impact”, because as you mentioned it is not a novelty, but it has a considerable impact.

According to your recommendations, we have introduced a discussion about agriculture, alternative water supply sources and the required measures to be taken in agriculture.

Minor comments

Fix

Line 68 reference I have introduced bibliographic reference, it is No. 25     Rolim G.S, Aparecido L. E. Camargo, Köppen and Thornthwaite climate classification systems in defining climatical regions of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, Int. J. Climatol. 36: 636–643, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4372 

Line 211 explain K factor – K factor is the brightness coefficient, corresponding to the geographical position (latitude) of the studied area, established according to the average number of hours - light of the days of each month.

Line 382 temperature factor?  In the calculation formula of the evapotranspiration, the monthly temperature is used, according to your observations; I have reformulated the text, for a better and suitable expression.

Line 477 reference I have introduced at the bibliography the cited source, it can be found under the no. 52 FAO UNESCO. World of desertification. Available online http://www.fao.org/3/T0115E06.htm

and Vizitiu O.P.; Calciu I.C.; Simota C.C.  Drought intensity on arable land in Romania –processes and tendencies. Lucrările Seminarului Geografic Dimitrie Cantemir. Vol. 42, October 2016, pp. 67-80.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15551/lsgdc.v42i0.07

Thank you, once again, for your guidance! It has been very useful in reshaping the entire manuscript!

We wish you a pleasant day!

Sincerely, Corresponding author!

Reviewer 2 Report

Please see my reviews in the attached file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions!

We have revised the entire paper according to your comments.

Please find enclosed our responses for every comment that you have made.

We have attached the file with all comments.

Thank you, once again for your guidance!

We wish you a pleasant day!

Sincerely, Corresponding author!

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for taking into account my suggestions. You did an excellent job revising your manuscript. I only have a few minor suggestions, please use bigger font size on x and y axes labels in Figure 9. The x-axis labels in figures 14, 15, and 17 can be rotated so it will conform with other figures, then put the legend inside the graph. Also check for some typographical errors e.g. line 68 'draught' instead of 'drought'. 

Author Response

Thank you so much for your appreciation and observations! 

We have changed the font in Figure 9, according to your suggestions, rotated the mentioned figures (14,15,17) and inserted the legend into each graph, as you have indicated.

We have also modified the misspelled word, line 68.

Thank you so much for all your recommendations which helped us to improve the manuscript!