Pro-Pluvia Rogation Ceremonies in Extremadura (Spain): Are They a Good Proxy of Winter NAO?
, José Agustín García 1 and José Manuel Vaquero 4Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The main aim of the paper is to establish a relationship between pro pluvia rogation ceremonies and the NAO index in Extremadura (Spain).
This paper investigates the relationship of winter NAO and pro pluvia rogation ceremonies. The authors explain that very often rogation ceremonies have been studied in places that have become great cities and where agricultural problems became less important. As most rogations were carried out as an answer to problems of agriculture, the authors decided to study smaller localities of the Extremadura Province in Spain. They analyze the period 1824-1931.
The paper is well structured and not unnecessarily long. A revision by a native English speaker is however advised.
The methodologies used are appropriate and are clearly explained (except some paragraphs, referred to below). The results can be exported to other studies and NAO reconstructions may by tested by this proxy (pro-pluvia rogations).
Figures and tables are OK.
Some remarks and suggestions:
Title- Suggestion: Replace “Rogation ceremonies” by “Pro-pluvia Rogation ceremonies” and replace “NAO” by “Winter NAO” – The title would be longer, but it will refer exactly to the content of this paper.
The abstract is correct. The authors could however explain that the pro-pluvia rogations are associated with positive values of NAO index in the previous months (e.g. months n-1 and n-2).
Key-words: replace “rogation ceremonies” by “pro-pluvia rogation ceremonies” or include “Pro-pluvia” as a key-word
L 43 – Here and throughout the text, could not the word “rough” weather be replaced by a more concrete word? Stormy? Windy?
L45 - replace “stablished” by “established”
L48 – Include reference [17]
L.89 – Replace “high” by “highly”
L.106- Replace “high” by “higher”
L107 – Replace “plain” by “plane”
L112 – Replace “proximity” by “relative proximity” (or eventually indicate mean distance from the Atlantic)
L134 Add a . before Figure
L138 Suggestion to change the translation, as the verb “accompany” does not seem appropriate in English: “… severe damages occurred in agriculture, due to an extensive drought that is taking place during the current spring..”
L151 - Replace “Due to the most rogations” by “As most rogations”
L 177 Replace “shows” by “show”
L179 Replace “winters back in time” by “previous winters”
L179-184 – This paragraph is not clear enough.
L181 - Replace “values” by “value”
L224 – Replace “date” by “dates”
L233-235. Explain
L244 – replace “due to the water is enough to crops can grow” by “when water availability permits normal crop growing” or another similar sentence.
L245 - Replace “due to the mean”..” by “as the mean..”
L246 . “Does not balance” ?
L249 Replace “slowly” by “progressively”?
L269 - What do you mean by “any ..” and by “percentages in a general point of view”?? These sentences are not clear L 269 -272.
L272 – Delete “get”. L272-273 review sentence
L295 – Replace “are” by “is”
L297-299 – Not clear (perhaps due to the English formulation)
L304 – Delete “the” before most percentages
L318 - Replace “the river flow” by “river flow”.
L325 – Replace “less” by “lowest”
L355 – Replace “This is due to pro-pluvia rogations correspond..” by “This is due to the fact that pro-pluvia rogations correspond..”
L355 “Negative” or should it be “Positive”? You are referring to previous months. You can also explain as in L311 “pro-pluvia rogations are associated with negative values of the NAO index in the month n, while positive values of the NAO index are associated in most cases with other [previous] months”
Table 1 – See line comment line 43
Replace “(due to they are newspapers..” by (as they are newspapers…”
Table 2 – Add within the caption. “1,2 and 3 : see section 3.2”
Fig. 1 Top. The figure presents the situation of Extremadura in the Iberian Peninsula and not in Spain
Fig.3, caption – see L138
Author Response
Please, see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript studies the celebration of pro-pluvia rogations in rural areas of Extremadura (southern Spain) and its potential usefulness to reconstruct historical values of the winter NAO index. The authors use documentary sources from the period 1824-1931. It is an interesting calibration exercise, but it only has sense if it is possible to extend rogation series in this area back in time. The main question is if there are documentary sources with information on rogations in historical periods, prior to 1821.
The number of events (21) seems very low to obtain results with statistical confidence. Is it sufficient?
Please, include a table with the main data of the 21 events (place, date, source).
Figure 7., Y-axis scale: 120%? It seems that the percentage corresponding to 3.5 NAO index is 100%. Is correct?
Authors conclude that pro-pluvia rogations are a good proxy for the NAO winter index. What index? NAODJF or NAODJFM? If pro-pluvia rogations should be associated to the NAO index in n-1 and n-2 months, the 7 events corresponding to March would be associated to NAO index in February and March, the 10 events recorded in April to February and March NAO indices, and the 4 events dated on May to March and April NAO indices. Therefore, 4 of the 21 events are not related to NAODJF, and it seems that the best choice is NAODJFM. Please, clarify.
According to the authors (page 10, line 317) "there is a delay of one month between the NAO index and the climatological variables in the IP". I'm not agree. The paper by Trigo et al detects this delay in the rivers flow, that is, in a hydrological variable (not climatological), as consequence of the response of the catchment area of the river basin. The delay may also be caused by the time lapse between the event (drought) and the social response (rogation).
Authors conclude (page 11, lines 358-359) that "historical spring pro-pluvia rogations celebrated in Extremadura region are a good proxy for the reconstruction of historical values of winter NAO index". I'm not agree. In strict sense, this study only certificates the connection between pro-pluvia rogations and positive NAO indices. Negative NAO indices are not reflected here. Perhaps the use of pro-serenitate rogations could solve this problem. But I suspect that the frequency of these rogations is lower than pro-pluvia rogations. And this is logical because rainfalls are not a symmetrical variable, drought episodes are consequence of continuous dry conditions (some weeks to months), meanwhile abundant rainfalls may occur in very short periods (hours, days). In my opinion, this is an important limitation of the use of rogations in quantitative reconstructions. Some comments on these problems would be appreciated.
Author Response
Please, see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors have answered to my comments in a satisfactory way.
