Evolution and Spatiotemporal Response of Ecological Environment Quality to Human Activities and Climate: Case Study of Hunan Province, China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis article contributes to the body of knowledge by providing effective data support for ecological and environmental monitoring and governance.
In results section, it is stated that the 'PAC method to calculate the RSEI was used." Please provide the formula.
RSEI presentation in Figure 3 does not have a legend to classify its values from poor to excellent; maybe this can be included.
Section 4.3 not clear on ecological drivers that support changes in human activities as a result of climate change. Maybe a map of these ecological drivers can be provided.
Section 5 does not clarify if this is an integrated approach or what the benefit is.
The conclusion section is required to show how the data and decision support for ecological monitoring is improved, needs clarification.
Author Response
“请看附件。”
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe manuscript entitled "Evolution of Ecological Environment Quality and Its Spatiotemporal Response to Human Activities and Climate Based on RSEI-v and GEE: Case Study on Hunan Province, China" aimed to develop an enhanced Remote Sensing Ecological Index, called (RSEI-v), by utilizing Landsat and MODIS satellite data. This index was used to monitor the dynamic features of ecological environmental quality (EEQ) in Hunan Province, China and analyse its spatial and temporal response patterns to variations in human activities and climate factors.
The manuscript is interesting and well written and structured. In my opinion it is suitable to publish in "Remote Sensing".
I have few comments.
1) Page 2, line 59. Discuss the application RSEI in different study areas.
2) Page 2, lines 66-67. Write the full acronyms of MSEEI and TDRSEI.
3) Page 8, lines 285-286. Is the difference between the RSEI-v and RSEI statistically significant? You have to calculate it.
4) Incorporating the code (as a link) inside your publication is advantageous as it allows scholars to derive benefits from it or further enhance its development.
Author Response
"Please see the attachment."
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsIn this study, the improved Remote Sensing Ecological Index RSEI-v was constructed, and the ecological environmental quality in Hunan Province was quantitatively monitored using RSEI-v. In addition, the responses of RSEI-v to human activities, temperature, and precipitation were analyzed using partial correlation analysis. The study offers a contribute to monitoring ecological environmental quality using remote sensing data, building on previous work. The main claims are as follows:
1. In the Abstract section, the construction method or the differences between RSEI-v and RSEI should be briefly introduced. Specifically, the sentence "We constructed an improved Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI-v) using Landsat and MODIS data" needs to be expanded. Additionally, the term "forward properties" in Line 20 is unclear and needs further clarification.
2. In the Introduction section, the phrase ‘(Remote Sensing-based Environmental Index)’ in line 59 should be removed.
3. The sentence ‘the instability of the index's positive and negative attributes’ in line 62 needs further explanation.
4. The full names of the abbreviations ‘MSEEI’ and ‘TDRSEI’ should be provided.
5. In the Material and Methods section, Table 1 show that the spatial resolution of temperature and precipitation dataset are 0.1°. What is the spatial resolution of the final EEQ data? And how did the temperature and precipitation data be resampled to the resolution of Landsat data? The resample algorithms should be provided.
6. Line 252, the location of [37] is not correct.
7. In the Result section, the Horizontal and vertical headings of Figure 4(a) should be added. the legend ‘RSIE-v’ is not correct.
8. In figure 6, the legend labeled ‘RSEI-v’ is not precise. It actually represents the EEQ changes over time (slope index). The legend should be revised to avoid confusion.
9. At Line 380, the phrase 'We divide Figure 4(b) into...' seems to refer to a figure other than Figure 4.
10. Some important limitations have not been discussed and should be added. For instance, there are many natural and human factors that affect EEQ, and studying only temperature and precipitation is quite limited. In addition, when calculating the annual RSEI index, using the median of yearly images introduces uncertainty and fails to account for intra-annual variations.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageExtensive editing of English language required.
Author Response
“请看附件。”
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe manuscript has been improved.
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe remarks and concerns are well addressed in the revision. I recommend this manuscript for publication.
