Topography significantly influencing low flows in snow-dominated watersheds

Li, Qiang; Wei, Xiaohua; Yang, Xin; Giles-Hansen, Krysta; Zhang, Mingfang; Liu, Wenfei

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1947-2018

Articles | Volume 22, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1947-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1947-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 3

Research article

|

20 Mar 2018

Research article |

| 20 Mar 2018

Topography significantly influencing low flows in snow-dominated watersheds

Qiang Li, Xiaohua Wei, Xin Yang, Krysta Giles-Hansen, Mingfang Zhang, and Wenfei Liu

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Final revised paper (published on 20 Mar 2018)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 10 Oct 2017)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

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

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Review', Petra Hulsman, 09 Nov 2017
- AC2: 'Reply to Reviewer #1 comments', Qiang Li, 20 Dec 2017
RC2: 'Interactive comment on “Topography significantly influencing low flows in snow-dominated watersheds” by Qiang Li et al.', Niclas Hjerdt, 13 Nov 2017
- AC1: 'Reply to Reviewer #2 comments', Qiang Li, 20 Dec 2017

Peer-review completion

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

ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (03 Jan 2018) by Thom Bogaard

AR by Qiang li on behalf of the Authors (07 Jan 2018) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (08 Jan 2018) by Thom Bogaard

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (02 Feb 2018)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

In the manuscript by from Li et al. titled “Topography significantly influencing low flows in snow-dominated watersheds”, the influence of topography on the flow regime is analysed and the main topographical features influencing the flow are identified. First, various topographical features commonly used in hydrology, geomorphology, ecology etc. were defined. Redundant features were then excluded by means of factor analysis. For the remaining features, their significance on the flow was analysed by means of multi linear regression models. Based on this analysis, low flows were found to be most sensitive to topographical features, specifically the perimeter, slope length factor, slope and topographic characteristics index.

The topic addressed is very interesting and in general well explained. However, there are some revisions necessary before publishing the paper.

Major comments:
It is stated that all TIs included in the multi linear regression (MLR) model are significant (line 161). The supplementary information however does not support this: some TIs included are not significant! It was mentioned in an author response to a review that this would be corrected, yet there are this insignificant TIs included in the MLR.
In addition, Fig 3 is not supported by the MLR results given in the supplements. If I understand correctly, the number of occurrence in this figure is the number of times a TI is included in the MLR model. However, this is not always the case, for example the TI DDG for Q75%: the number of occurrences is 1 based on Fig 3 whereas it is 5 based on the supplements (1989, 1990, 1991, 1994 and 1995). This means the results are not supported by the supplements; therefore how can this figure and the conclusions drawn from it be verified?

Minor comments:
Lines 75-79: It seems, the focus is on analysing the influence of the topography on various flow magnitudes instead of the flow regime in general. To avoid confusion, this could be specified more clearly, for example in the objectives.
Line 171 and 174: It is referred to a figure with the results (Fig 3) whereas this is a methodology section. A figure indeed helps explaining the methodology more clearly, yet it is too early to refer to the results in the methodology section.
Lines 225-230: The author states, that topography does not influence the high flows significantly as the topographical features influencing the high flows such as elevation are quite similar in this region. Does this mean this study merely analyses whether a TI is variable enough to significantly influence a flow variable? Is it therefore possible that a TI significantly influences the flow, yet is not seen in this study due to low variability in the analysed catchments?

Technical corrections:
Line 102: I assume Figure 1 is meant instead of Figure 2.
Line 120: Sentence is grammatically incorrect. Suggested alternative: “They are defined as the daily flow that occurred each year at a given percentage.”
Line 188: I assume Figure 2 is meant instead of Figure 3.
Figures 1 and 3 have inconsistent captions when comparing the caption in the main text and the one below the figure.
Line 329: spelling mistake: “in” instead of “is”
Line 333: grammatical error: “in a study region” instead of “in the study region”
Fig S5: inconsistent variable names: “PPT” & “P” for precipitation
Fig S1-5: wrong units in the axes labels (mm/yr) instead of (mm)
Section 5.1 in the supplements: spelling mistakes or inconsistencies in the naming of the TIs (for example CA instead of UCA, SCA or SA), making it rather difficult to compare the different results. If it is not a spelling mistake, then TIs are mentioned in the supplements, but not in the manuscript, for instance Table 1.

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (15 Feb 2018) by Thom Bogaard

AR by Qiang li on behalf of the Authors (18 Feb 2018) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (26 Feb 2018) by Thom Bogaard

Short summary

Topography plays an important role in determining the spatial heterogeneity of ecological, geomorphological, and hydrological processes. Topography plays a more dominant role in low flows than high flows. Our analysis also identified five significant TIs: perimeter, slope length factor, surface area, openness, and terrain characterization index. These can be used to compare watersheds when low flow assessments are conducted, specifically in snow-dominated regions.