PERICLIMv1.0: a model deriving palaeo-air temperatures from thaw depth in past permafrost regions

Uxa, Tomáš; Křížek, Marek; Hrbáček, Filip

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1865-2021

Articles | Volume 14, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1865-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1865-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 14, issue 4

Model description paper

|

07 Apr 2021

Model description paper |

| 07 Apr 2021

PERICLIMv1.0: a model deriving palaeo-air temperatures from thaw depth in past permafrost regions

Tomáš Uxa, Marek Křížek, and Filip Hrbáček

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Final revised paper (published on 07 Apr 2021)
Preprint (discussion started on 23 Jan 2020)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

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

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RC1: 'Very interesting approach, but needs improvements for a model description paper', Anonymous Referee #1, 25 Feb 2020
- AC1: 'Author’s response to comments of Referee #1', Tomas Uxa, 22 Jun 2020
RC2: 'review 2', Anonymous Referee #2, 02 Mar 2020
- AC2: 'Author’s response to comments of Referee #2', Tomas Uxa, 22 Jun 2020
RC3: 'Comments on the manuscript: GMD-2020-5', Anonymous Referee #3, 09 Mar 2020
- AC3: 'Author’s response to comments of Referee #3', Tomas Uxa, 22 Jun 2020
EC1: 'Proceed with revisions', Andrew Wickert, 22 Jun 2020

Peer-review completion

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

AR by Tomáš Uxa on behalf of the Authors (30 Sep 2020) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (24 Oct 2020) by Andy Wickert

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (26 Nov 2020)

RR by Anonymous Referee #4 (23 Dec 2020)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

I had not previously reviewed this paper. This means some of my comments may be on top of comments of previous reviewers.

This paper works out a clever concept: invert a Stefan equation approach permafrost model to predict paleo-temperature from an active layer thickness that is interpreted from cryoturbation depth limits in paleosols.
The method is well laid out, builds on well vetted methods in the permafrost community (Nelson and Outcalt paper) and comprehensible.
The new approach is validated against a small set of 7 permafrost stations in Antarctica and Alaska. The model seems to systematically underestimate the air temperature (error of -1.3deg C).

My major concern is that the model is limited in scope, it cannot take into account soil moisture variability with a soil column, nor important snow or vegetation effects. Previous literature has emphasized how important those effects are. This likely means that predictions should be presented as ‘first-order estimates’ or ‘ranges’ of paleo-temperatures, but that can still be useful for comparison against other proxies! Thus, I support the approach the authors take by doing Monte Carlo experiments, and providing ranges of temperature regimes and characteristics. This approach can be better explained in the abstract.

I enjoyed reading the paper, it follows a logical flow for a modeling paper: methods, validation against modern observations, application to two case studies, and thorough discussion.

I realize the authors are not native speakers, I am neither, I still noted some awkward phrasings and flagged some of them as I encountered them.

My annotations that request some revisions are listed in the attached PDF.
But overall this paper requires some minor revisions only and I recommend publication in GMD.

Referee Report: PDF

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (29 Dec 2020) by Andy Wickert

AR by Tomáš Uxa on behalf of the Authors (15 Jan 2021) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (24 Feb 2021) by Andy Wickert

AR by Tomáš Uxa on behalf of the Authors (27 Feb 2021) Manuscript

Short summary

We present a simple model that derives palaeo-air temperature characteristics related to the palaeo-active-layer thickness, which can be recognized using many relict periglacial features found in past permafrost regions. Its evaluation against modern temperature records and an experimental palaeo-air temperature reconstruction showed relatively high model accuracy, which suggests that it could become a useful tool for reconstructing Quaternary palaeo-environments.