We have now received three critical reviews from three experts in the field. The reviewers have listed a number of both minor and major comments. Based on these comments and my own assessment of the manuscript, I find that this study can make a valuable contribution if the issues raised by the reviewers are adequately addressed.

Some of the major points raised by the reviewers that need to be carefully addressed in the revised manuscript are:

• Reviewer #1 suggests the removal of the reference to climate change in the abstract, as the manuscript does not explicitly analyse the effects of climate change. This needs to be properly clarified to avoid any possible confusion.

• A more detailed description of several methodological aspects need to be included (including selection of NDVI thresholds as mentioned by reviewer #1 and #2, uncertainty analysis and the inclusion of additional figures as suggested by reviewer #3) and will certainly strongly enhance the value and quality of the revised manuscript . Some of the material can be presented in supplements, but also briefly discussed in the manuscript.

• The paper lacks s short discussion of the limitations of the analysis, and possible implications in terms of the results.

• As suggested by reviewer#1, management implications of the analysis need to be discussed in section 4.

In summary, I find that your manuscript needs to be carefully revised to address all concerns of the three reviewers to be suitable for publication.

We have now received the new set of reviewer comments. Based on these evaluations and my own assessment of the revised manuscript, I am pleased to accept "Attribution of satellite observed vegetation trends in a hyper-arid region of the Heihe River Basin, Central Asia" for publication in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS). Thank you for responding positively to all the reviewer’s comments and improving the manuscript.