please see pdf

To the editorial team at Earth Surface Dynamics,

I have completed my review of the manuscript “egusphere-2023-1278: Decadal-scale decay of landslide-derived fluvial suspended sediment after Typhoon Morakot” by Ruetenik et al. [https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2023/egusphere-2023-1278/]. The manuscript uses decades-long river suspended sediment and discharge measurements from a series of stations around Taiwan to investigate the impact of the 2009 Typhoon Morakot its resultant landslides on river suspended sediment delivery over time. The authors show that among a subset of focus stations after Typhoon Morakot, rivers generally had large increases in the rating-curve parameter  (meaning that more sediment is delivered for a given discharge) and smaller decreases in the rating-curve parameter  (meaning that the amount of sediment delivered becomes less dependent on the magnitude of discharge), both compared to pre-Morakot averages. The peak for  occurred within ~1 year, while the decrease in  peaked after a couple of years, and both values decayed back to pre-Morakot levels, with the most-affected regions decaying within a couple of decades.

Overall, after a close review, I have found the manuscript to be well-written, mostly clear, and with few typographical or grammatical errors. It is clear that the submission has been treated with care. The work addresses relevant scientific questions to the readership of ESurf, presents novel and reasonable results, and has a method that seems technically sound and reproducible. While the manuscript requires little in the way of major changes, I have some minor comments for the editor’s and authors’ consideration. I have also included line-level comments. While I think that some of my comments bear addressing, others are merely suggestions or observations. The comments can be found in the attached PDF.

I thank the authors for a well-written manuscript. I have enjoyed reading it, and I hope that my comments prove helpful.

Best regards,

Harrison Martin

Postdoctoral Scholar Research Associate

Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences

Caltech