Uncertainties, sensitivities and robustness of simulated water erosion in an EPIC-based global gridded crop model

Carr, Tony W.; Balkovič, Juraj; Dodds, Paul E.; Folberth, Christian; Fulajtar, Emil; Skalsky, Rastislav

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5263-2020

Articles | Volume 17, issue 21

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5263-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5263-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 21

Research article

|

05 Nov 2020

Research article |

| 05 Nov 2020

Uncertainties, sensitivities and robustness of simulated water erosion in an EPIC-based global gridded crop model

Tony W. Carr, Juraj Balkovič, Paul E. Dodds, Christian Folberth, Emil Fulajtar, and Rastislav Skalsky

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Final revised paper (published on 05 Nov 2020)
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Preprint (discussion started on 21 Apr 2020)
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Interactive discussion

Status: closed

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

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RC1: 'Referee Comment "Uncertainties, sensitivities and robustness of simulated water erosion in an EPIC-based global-gridded crop model"', Anonymous Referee #1, 04 May 2020
- AC1: 'Response to Referee #1', Tony Carr, 12 May 2020
RC2: 'Carr et al comments', Anonymous Referee #2, 17 Jun 2020
- AC2: 'Reply to review comments - see supplementary file', Tony Carr, 13 Jul 2020
RC3: 'Use of means and assumptions about cultivation on slopes could lead to exaggerated results', Anonymous Referee #3, 22 Jun 2020
- AC3: 'Reply to review comments - see supplementary file', Tony Carr, 13 Jul 2020

Peer-review completion

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

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (15 Jul 2020) by Fortunat Joos

AR by Tony Carr on behalf of the Authors (15 Aug 2020) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (19 Aug 2020) by Fortunat Joos

RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (30 Aug 2020)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Review of

Uncertainties, sensitivities and robustness of simulated water erosion in an EPIC-based global-gridded crop model

By T. W. Carr et al.

In general the authors have done an admirable job responding to the reviewers’ comments and the current manuscript is greatly improved compared to the previous version. I would be pleased to recommend this manuscript for publication following minor revision.

I particularly liked the authors additional sensitivity analyses concerning assumptions about which slopes are farmed. The test study for Italy showed clearly that if only low-slope landscapes are cultivated, very little soil erosion occurs. This result may form a basis for policymaking in some cases.

Responding to on my comments from the previous version, Figure 8 is a fantastic addition to the manuscript. I particularly appreciated the authors sharing of personal observations of (frequently unsustainable) cultivation practices in tropical mountains, and the illustration with photos. The figure showing years until total depletion of the soil profile (Fig. S10) is also very helpful.

I realize figure 8 is only a fraction of the photos you must have, and I liked seeing all of the photos that were provided in the response to reviewers document. I would be pleased if all of these additional photos could be provided in a supplementary materials document to accompany the final paper.

Furthermore, in figure 8, please provide approximate geographic coordinates and approximate elevation and slope for the sites shown in each of the four pictures. Exact numbers are not necessary, but it would be very helpful for future studies to examine these regions in more detail, e.g., using satellite and updated terrain data.

I realize that collation of a large database of soil erosion measurements would be beyond the scope of the current manuscript, and I fully appreciate the authors explanation of the challenges and effort that would be required to do this. I found the six points listed in the response to reviewers helpful information that could be used to form a basis for future international research initiatives. These may already be well known in the community. I would anyway request that the authors include a 1-2 sentence summary of the need and requirements for synthesizing soil erosion records in the final version of the paper, as this would be a very helpful citation, e.g., for anyone preparing a proposal to initiate or coordinate a project on the topic.

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RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (07 Sep 2020)

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (14 Sep 2020) by Fortunat Joos

AR by Tony Carr on behalf of the Authors (22 Sep 2020) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (30 Sep 2020) by Fortunat Joos

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Short summary

We generate 30-year mean water erosion estimates in global maize and wheat fields based on daily simulation outputs from an EPIC-based global gridded crop model. Evaluation against field data confirmed the robustness of the outputs for the majority of global cropland and overestimations at locations with steep slopes and strong rainfall. Additionally, we address sensitivities and uncertainties of model inputs to improve water erosion estimates in global agricultural impact studies.