Evaluation of Bioclimatic Discomfort Trend in a Central Area of the Mediterranean Sea
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This manuscript used temperature and relative humidity to make up a TDI index to evaluate the climate comfort change of Sicily from 2002 to 2021. And it used MKT to analyze the significant change trend. In general, it made less contribution to science, and the discussion part needs to be added to enhance the scientific value. I think this manuscript is not suitable for the journal. And there are several comments as follows
(1)Please note that this is not the first analysis on a regional scale. Maybe it’s the first analysis of Sicily.
2Introduction
(2)The introduction of the method in paragraph 4 should be placed to 2. Materials and Methods
(3)Paragraph 5 suggests integration into 3 results
(4)Paragraph 6 needs to declare the key scientific issues
(5)It is necessary to add 4 discussions to discuss the reliability of the research results, the advantages of comparison with others, and the limitations of the research.
5 conclusion
(6)All paragraphs are suitable for discussion in 4. The conclusion needs to be rewritten and refined
Author Response
Dear Referee,
in attach the answer, point to point.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to improve the paper.
Best regards.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The article entitled Evaluation of bioclimatic discomfort trend in a central area of the Mediterranean Sea deals with climate change in Sicily (Italy), and its influence on people's health, is an interesting study to be published, which can be transferred to other territories. However, I note that the authors use few references on climate change, when there is a wide range of articles on the subject, both in Italy and in nearby countries (Spain), the authors could mention some of these works.
Author Response
Dear Referee,
as requested we add some paper, improving the Bibliography.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to improve the paper.
Best regards.
Reviewer 3 Report
This is an interesting short paper introducing a useful indicators in climatology and applying it in a Mediterranean context (Sicily). Manuscript is well readable (some sentences as too much ‘italian’ as writing style; I suggest a further revision by a Mother Tongue in English). Authors applied a good and strong methodological approach. Since climate change has been included among the main anthropogenic disturbances acting on biodiversity and human environment, I suggest, in Introduction some citations about the topic of disturbance ecology (there is a recent Springer book as review in this topic, with a codification of this disturbance; see also the seminal papers of Sousa, White and Picketts). However, I suggest MINOR REVISIONS after these suggested changes that, I hope, could improve a bit this interesting manuscript.
Rows 27-28. Add some citations and book reviews about climate change as large-scale human-disturbance.
Row 88. Change ‘Area study’ to ‘Study area’.
Perhaps Tables 3 and 4 should be shifted in Supplementary materials.
Row 252-253: this sentence should be shortened: ‘From the results obtained in this study, it was possible to characterize the biometeorological distress perceived in the provinces of the island of Sicily’, change to ‘In our study, we characterized biometeorological distress perceived along the Sicily’. Everywhere along the text analogous sentences may be shortened to make the text more readable.
In acknowledgments, add the role of anonymous reviewers to improve the first draft of the ms.
I like to read a reviewed version of this interesting short paper.
Have a nice work.
Author Response
Dear Referee,
in attach the answer, point to point.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to improve the paper.
Best regards.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Introduction needs to be major revised. Discussion also needs to be enriched.
Introduction
(1)The second paragraph should describe the impact of heat waves, not heat
(2) This description is not related to this study, and wind speed is not applied in this study
“The development of procedures based on the complex dynamics with which air temperature, relative humidity, and wind are combined, make it possible to identify the conditions of well-being or thermal discomfort feel by humans in hot periods.”
(3)The fourth paragraph needs to be integrated into the method. “The TDI was applied for a period long twenty years, from 2002 to 2021, considering only the hot months (May to September). The daily temperature and relative humidity values come from 96 stations of the island's meteorological network, controlled by the Sicilian Agrometeorological Information Service (SIAS). To estimate the missing daily values, the mean difference method recommended by the World Meteorological Organization [33] was used. For each province, an average value of daily temperature and relative humidity was calculated, in order to calculate the daily value of the TDI that characterizes that part of the territory.”
(4)The fifth paragraph needs to be deleted. The research conclusion appears in the introduction. It's confusing
(5)The last paragraph needs to describe the key scientific problems to be solved in this study
Discussion
(6)The discussion was very short. Need enrichment.
(7)It can be a separate chapter or combined with the results. However, it cannot be combined with the Conclusion.
Author Response
Dear Referee,
in attach the answer of your suggestions. Everyone was useful to improve the paper.
Thank you very much.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
