Measuring subaqueous progradation of the Wax Lake Delta with a model of flow direction divergence

Shaw, John B.; Estep, Justin D.; Whaling, Amanda R.; Sanks, Kelly M.; Edmonds, Douglas A.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-1155-2018

Articles | Volume 6, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-1155-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-1155-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 6, issue 4

Research article

|

30 Nov 2018

Research article |

| 30 Nov 2018

Measuring subaqueous progradation of the Wax Lake Delta with a model of flow direction divergence

John B. Shaw, Justin D. Estep, Amanda R. Whaling, Kelly M. Sanks, and Douglas A. Edmonds

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Final revised paper (published on 30 Nov 2018)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 22 Jun 2018)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

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

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RC1: 'Measuring Subaqueous Progradation of the Wax Lake Delta with a Model of Flow Direction Divergence', Anonymous Referee #1, 19 Jul 2018
SC1: 'The significance of delta front processes presented here.', John Shaw, 06 Aug 2018
RC2: 'REVIEW: Measuring Subaqueous Progradation of the Wax Lake Delta with a Model of Flow Direction Divergence', Anonymous Referee #2, 12 Aug 2018
AC1: 'Response to all reviews', John Shaw, 25 Sep 2018

Peer-review completion

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

AR by John Shaw on behalf of the Authors (25 Sep 2018) Author's response

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (29 Oct 2018) by Patricia Wiberg

The authors have done a good job of responding to the reviewers' comments. The authors have expanded the discussion of the morphodynamics leading the to convergence-divergence behavior at the heart of their method and the broader significance of their results. They are clearer about the limitations and applications of the new method. There remain a few places where there are typos or the text is a little hard to follow. I've listed these below. I recommend the authors consider these and make any appropriate changes. Then the paper is ready for publication.

Comments/corrections:
Consistently use subaerial (P1: L25, L26) or sub-aerial (P1: L26).
“Slopes” is used as a noun (P2: L30) and as a verb (P3: L1). Maybe unavoidable but it can be a little confusing.
P3: L13: over what reach? The levees? But are they channelized?
P3: L21: “deltas with established marshes that flow into freshwater basins” is confusing. What is flowing into freshwater basins?
P3: L21: change to “or where river discharge is enough …”
P5: L9: May be clearer as “For numerically modelled deltas (Figure 4) …”
P5: L12-13. This sentence is a little hard to follow. Could it be rephrased as something like: “We test the FD2C model by comparing the relative locations of channel tips and the critical divergence point xD on the Wax Lake Delta and on FD2C model grids, as well as on a set of numerically modelled deltas.”?
P5: L26: Maybe better as “testing the FD2C model, which indicates that …”? [A model can’t “state” anything.]
P6: L8: “200 m variation in …”
P8: L14: “This uncertainty is generally …”
P9: L9: Do you really mean the slope of the slope?
P9: L10: “shed more light”?
P9: L26: “revealed at least 10 deltas globally with detectable streaklines (e.g. Fig. 1)”?
P9: L31: Does this specifically refer to Mississippi River delta?
P11: L15: change “Carbon” to “carbon”.
P11: L21: The use of the term “emergent” here could be confusing as it could refer to behavior or position relative to MSL.
P11: L24: “final reach of the channel and converges on the delta front. The location of the transition …”

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AR by John Shaw on behalf of the Authors (08 Nov 2018) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (13 Nov 2018) by Patricia Wiberg

ED: Publish as is (19 Nov 2018) by Douglas Jerolmack (Editor)

AR by John Shaw on behalf of the Authors (19 Nov 2018)

Short summary

Deltas are important landforms because many people live near them. Specific water flow patterns of spreading and contraction are produced where delta channel flow meets the ocean. Tracers on the water surface allow this pattern to be measured from space. We identify this pattern on a growing river delta in 40 years of images, allowing us to track its growth in a new way. This method has potential to improve monitoring of deltas worldwide.