Dear Authors,

please, prepare a revised version of the manuscript taking into account the reviewers' suggestions and comments - as well as your replies.

The revised version of the manuscript will be sent out for another round of reviews.

Sincerely Yours,

Matjaž Mikoš
Handling Editor

Dear Authors,

you have received positive comments from the former reviewer, and apart from some small technical issues, the manuscript can be now accepted for publication in HESS. All references are listed and used in the manuscript.

The technical improvements to be made before publication are as follows:
- in Table 1 on Page 14, the best cross-validation indices are marked in bold font - these values cannot be seen in the pdf, please, check and/or correct,
- on Page, you may capitalise the nouns in Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE)
- on Page 1, line 16, you may mention that not only water and wind cause (soil) erosion.
- on Page 1, line 17, you may distinguish between causal factors and triggering (immediate causing) factors, in this regard, instead of "triggered" would be better to use "driven".

Thank you for selecting HESS as the journal to publish your research results.

Sincerely Yours,

Matjaž Mikoš
Handling Editor