Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Frost Regime in the Iberian Peninsula in the Context of Climate Change (1975–2018)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper presents the trends of seasonal frost dynamics in Iberian peninsula. From my opinion it does not require much corrections. However I have some notes.

• IP is rather extended, both in latitudal and longitudal (distance from Atlantic) directions. So, it would be good to argue in the Methods, why only elevation was used as pixel characteristic for spatial interpolation (i.e., assuming that the effect of latitude at the same elevation could be neglected). As one can understand from Eq.4, the trend is assumed to be depending only on elevation, all other effects (latitude etc.) being hided in residuals. Later in the Results latitude was included in the analysis.
• It is not always clear when the mentioned variables are annual or multi-years means, per pixel or per station.
• As follows from p. 3.1, the probability of frost for each pixel is multi-year average, so it could not capture temporal trend, did I understood well?
• It would be good to mention, which values of frost parameters were set if there was no frost in a particular year/station. Were in such a case, e.g., FFD and LFD set to 0? And how the kriging was applied in such cases (e.g., if in one point it was no frost at all and in some neighboring points it was frost in particular days).
• In the discussion the authors mentioned several times the increasing danger of crops damage because of earlier budburst. However, the increase of FFP can also lead to the improvement of growth conditions for heat-loving crops end the extension of the area, where they can be cultivated. I think this should be also mentioned in the discussion.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you very much for your comments. These have undoubtedly contributed to the improvement of the manuscript. Next, I answer the general questions. All particular questions have been taken into account, and you can see them in the attached file.

1.-Latitude was not incorporated into the model, because only in one variable (Frost probability) a significant correlation was obtained, and it did not achieve appreciable improvement in the model.

2.- All variables are always multi-years means. Trends always refer to weather stations, and pixels are only used for the spatial analysis.

3.- In the years in which there were no frosts in some weather station, the value of frost day was zero, and that year was not taken into account for the frost dates with the aim of applying the kriging algorithm.

4.- We have added the sentence "increasing FFP can also lead to improved growing conditions for heat loving crops and the extent of the area, where they can be grown."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This article is well structured, but needs some additions. In particular, it would be necessary to review the weights of various chapters. In fact, the introduction is too unbalanced, which in any case totally lacks references to local and European Union adaptation policies envisaged for the agricultural sector in view of climate change underway.

Furthermore, paragraph 2.3 on frost indicators should be extended, extremely synthetic, a discussion chapter should be prepared that can summarize and comment on the results obtained, while the conclusions are extremely poor, giving no space to any perspective on the usefulness of this work, of the scientific and technical policy implications that a study of this type passes back to the governments of the states within the Iberian peninsula and to the European Union.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your comments and contribution. We are very sorry for your impression on our paper. Then I explain about your general questions.

Local and European Union adaptation policies envisaged for the agricultural sector in view of climate change underway have not been taken into account in the references, since they are not objectives in our article.

Paragraph 2.3 compiles the analyzed indices and they are described in the same way as numerous authors in similar articles (see in the introduction section). They are simple indices, therefore we do not consider that they require further explanations.

The discussion of the results is analyzed variable by variable in the Results and Discussion section.
The knowledge of the dates of frost, as well as its intensity is very important for the planning of the crops, choice of species and varieties. The detected trends will allow the design of strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change on crops and their planning. These trends have exceeded what was found in other similar studies. For all the above, we consider that the conclusions of our study are useful from a scientific and technically perspective.
Following your recommendation, we have added a pertinent conclusion.

In the attached file, you can see the document with the suggestions and changes of the rest of the reviewers.

Thank you

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

General comments

This manuscript conducted a spatiotemporal analysis of the frost regime in the IP. Also, the authors determined the characteristics of the frosts' frequency and their trends.

In general, the research procedures and techniques used by the author (s) are standard, clear, and reproducible. The data analysis was not complicated and presented well-written results. The results presented are clear, well presented, and well complemented with figures and tables that help visualize the results. The conclusions were based on the findings of the results and logically stated. The manuscript is compelling to hold the reader's attention. The manuscript is interesting, and I found some merits in both methodology and results. The manuscript will be of interest to the general scientific community, and the general public may find this work interesting. In my opinion, this paper has a good potential to be published in the journal.

However, I have concerns that the author(s) need to address them. Detailed comments are attached for authors to consider revising the manuscript carefully.

Recommended References

2021

Hosseini, S.M., Karbalaee, A. & Hosseini, S.A. Spatiotemporal changes of early fall and late spring frost and its trend based an daily minimum temperature in Iran. Arab J Geosci , 2021, 14, 304 https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1007/s12517-021-06608-3

Gobbett, D., Nidumolu, U., Jin, H., Hayman, P., & Gallant, J. (2021). Minimum temperature mapping augments Australian grain farmers’ knowledge of frost. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 108422.

2020

Gobbett, D., Nidumolu, U., & Crimp, S. (2020). Modelling frost generates insights for managing risk of minimum temperature extremes. Weather and climate extremes, 27, 100176. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.wace.2018.06.003

2019

Tomczyk, A.M., Szyga-Pluta, K., & Bednorz, E. Occurrence and synoptic background of strong and very strong frost in spring and autumn in Central Europe. International Journal of Biometeorology, 2019, 64, 59-70.

Kim, Y., Kimball, J., Xu, X., Dunbar, R., Colliander, A., & Derksen, C. (2019). Global Assessment of the SMAP Freeze/Thaw Data Record and Regional Applications for Detecting Spring Onset and Frost Events. Remote. Sens., 11, 1317.

Zeinali, B., Teymouri, M., Asghari, S., Mohammadi, M., & Gupta, V. (2019). A study of frost occurrence and minimum temperatures in Iran. Journal of Earth System Science, 128, 1-15.

2018

Grose, M.R., Black, M., Risbey, J., Uhe, P., Hope, P., Haustein, K., & Mitchell, D. (2018). Severe Frosts in Western Australia in September 2016. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 99.

Webb, M., Pirie, A., Kidd, D., & Minasny, B. (2018). Spatial analysis of frost risk to determine viticulture suitability in Tasmania, Australia. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research, 24, 219–233.

2017

Moeletsi, M. and M. Tongwane. Spatiotemporal Variation of Frost within Growing Periods. Advances in Meteorology, 2017 (2017): 1-11.

2016

Crimp, S.J., Gobbett, D., Kokic, P. et al. Recent seasonal and long-term changes in southern Australian frost occurrence. Climatic Change 139, 115–128 (2016). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1007/s10584-016-1763-5

Others

Didari, S., Zand-Parsa, S., Sepaskhah, A., Kamgar-Haghighi, A., & Khalili, D. Preparation of frost atlas using different interpolation methods in a semiarid region of south of Iran. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 2011, 108, 159-171.

Rahimi, M., Hajjam, S., Khalili, A., Kamali, G., & Stigter, C. Risk analysis of first and last frost occurrences in the Central Alborz region, Iran. International Journal of Climatology, 2007, 27, 349-356.

Tait, A., & Zheng, X. (2003). Mapping Frost Occurrence Using Satellite Data, Journal of Applied Meteorology, 2003, 42, 193-203. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1175/1520-0450(2003)042<0193:MFOUSD>2.0.CO;2

Easterling, D. (2002). Recent Changes in Frost Days and the Frost-Free Season in the United States. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 83, 1327-1332.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear reviewer,
I would like especially to thank you for your comments and suggestions. These have undoubtedly contributed to the improvement of the manuscript.

All your comments and suggestions have been applied in the attached file.
Following your recommendation:

We have added updated references.

We have added quantitative data in the abstract and new key words.

We have divided and considered sentences that were too long or confusing.

We have added the DOI in the indicated references

Thank you so much

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf