Improving semi-automated glacier mapping with a multi-method approach: applications in central Asia

Smith, T.; Bookhagen, B.; Cannon, F.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1747-2015

Articles | Volume 9, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1747-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1747-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 9, issue 5

Research article

|

04 Sep 2015

Research article |

| 04 Sep 2015

Improving semi-automated glacier mapping with a multi-method approach: applications in central Asia

T. Smith, B. Bookhagen, and F. Cannon

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Final revised paper (published on 04 Sep 2015)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 17 Oct 2014)
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

RC C2671: 'Referee Comment', Frank Paul, 17 Dec 2014
RC C2680: 'Please see my comments in the supplement.', Wanqin Guo, 18 Dec 2014
AC C2882: 'Author Comments', Taylor Smith, 15 Jan 2015
EC C3016: 'Editor decision', Tobias Bolch, 04 Feb 2015

Peer-review completion

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

AR by Taylor Smith on behalf of the Authors (12 Feb 2015)

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (16 Feb 2015) by Tobias Bolch

RR by Wanqin Guo (10 Mar 2015)

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (30 Mar 2015)

ED: Reconsider after major revisions (08 Apr 2015) by Tobias Bolch

AR by Taylor Smith on behalf of the Authors (18 May 2015) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (19 May 2015) by Tobias Bolch

RR by Frank Paul (05 Jul 2015)

RR by Wanqin Guo (11 Jul 2015)

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (28 Jul 2015) by Tobias Bolch

Dear authors,

I have now received the reviews. Both reviewers highlighted that the manuscript has clearly improved and recommend publishing after some minor further improvements. I am in line with the reviewers comments and I have the following minor additional comments from my side:
L. 120: I agree that slope is one key morphometric parameter for delineating the debris-covered areas. However, the suggested threshold values differ depending on glacier type from the 24◦ suggested by for Oberaletschgletscher/Swiss Alps (Paul et al. 2004), for example, it is 12◦ for Khumbu Glacier/Himalayas (Bolch et al. 2007), less than 15◦ for Samudra Tapu Glacier/Himachal Himalayas (Shukla et al. 2010) and 18◦ for Gangotri Glacier/Garhwal Himalayas (Bhambri et al. 2011). Maybe you could check your chosen threshold (just a suggestion), but please provide some info about the different suggested thresholds here or in the discussion.
L. 275: Be a bit more specific about the 6 cited references. You may (but not must) include Bhambri et al. (2011), IJRS who also clearly mention the limitations of their approach.
I will not send out the manuscript for review again but will make a final decision once I have received the revised version. The revision should contain a response to each of the comments from the reviewers and explain how the comment was handled. If you disagree with a comment, please explain why. If the text was modified as a response to a comment, please indicate how the text was modified, including the new text and its position in the manuscript (line numbers) and/or highlight the changes in the manuscript.
Do not hesitate to ask in case you have any questions. I am looking forward to the revised version of your manuscript.

Best regards,

Tobias Bolch –Editor TC-

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AR by Taylor Smith on behalf of the Authors (13 Aug 2015) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (25 Aug 2015) by Tobias Bolch

AR by Taylor Smith on behalf of the Authors (26 Aug 2015)

Short summary

We describe and apply a newly developed glacial mapping algorithm which uses spectral, topographic, velocity, and spatial data to quickly and accurately map glacial extents over a wide area. This method maps both clean glacier ice and debris-covered glacier tongues across diverse topographic, land cover, and spectral settings using primarily open-source tools.