peer review report 2 on sea level rise and coastal groundwater inundation and shoaling at select sites in california usa

Technical Comments: http://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wrir024259/ca0443text.pdf.Thisissuesneedstobeproperlyaddressedinthemanuscript... Peer Review Report / Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies

Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 9 (2017) 36–37

Studies

j ou rn a l h o m e pa g e :w w w e l s e v i e r c o m / l o c a t e / e j r h

Peer Review Report

Peer review report 2 on “Sea level rise and coastal groundwater

inundation and shoaling at select sites in California, USA”

1 Original Submission

2 Comments to Author:

3 Editorial comments:

4 Technical Comments:

(http://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wrir024259/ca0443text.pdf).Thisissuesneedstobeproperlyaddressedinthemanuscript

DOI of the original article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2015.12.055

2214-5818/$ – see front matter

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2016.11.022

Peer Review Report / Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 9 (2017) 36–37 37

TheArcadiaandpossiblytheStinsonBeachstudyareasareonlysmallerpartsoflargercoastalaquifers.Idonotbelieve thestudyareasforthesetwositesconformtoanymanagementunitusedforwaterresourceorothermanagementpurposes Thisleadsthereadertotheconclusionthatlargepartsoftheseareasareimpactedbysealevelriseandrisinggroundwater levels.Assuchthemanuscriptgreatlyoverstatesthecaseforimpactsofsealevelrise,especiallysincethediscussioninthe textisintermsofpercentages,ratherthanactualarea.OnlytheMalibuareaisacompleteaquiferorhydrogeologicalunit Thepotentialimpactsdescribedinthemanuscriptneedtobeputincontext

ThedatafromthehydrographfromwellC-1intheMalibuareaismisinterpreted(line444-446).Seecommentintext Themanuscriptissuitableforpublicationintheintendedoutletbutwillneedsomerevisionpriortoacceptancefor publication.Themanuscriptdoespresentinterestinginformationthatreadersshouldfinduseful.Thanksfortheopportunity

toreview

Line50(Abstract):delete“isolated”orperhapschangetocoastal

Lines59-65(Introduction):Move“recentincreaseshavebeenattributedprimarilytoglobalwarmingandassociated meltingofpolaricecaps(Refs)¨totheendoftheparagraphaftertheCayanreference.Youmightwanttochange“global warming”to“globalclimatechange”tobeUSGSpoliticallycorrect

Lines66-68:Isthiscorrectasstated.ThemeaningisthatsealevelhasrisengloballyeverywhereexceptCalifornnia?If notyourintentyoumayneedtoclarify

Lines94-96:Mostofthisislikelytheresultofdecreasedprecipitation,changesinsnowmeltandrunoffect.Forthispaper

isitpossibletoseparatethefractionofthedecreaseattributabletosealevelrise.Likelynot,butIthoughtIwouldask Lines123-125:ThereshouldbesignificantdifferencesbetweenWLrisesdirectlyassociatedwithrisingsealevelandwith waterlevelrisesassociatedwithgroundwaterrisesorinundation(otherthansimplywaterloggingofthecoastalarea).It mightberelevanttodiscusssomeofthosedifferencesdescribedbytheotherstudiesreferenced

Line176:SantaClaragroundwaterbasinnotshownonFig.1

Line179-180:Thephrase“humandevelopment”isveryvague.Doesthatrefertocommercial,residential,agricultural landuse,oralloftheabove?Clarify

Lines204-205:Thegroundwaterlevelsbelowsealevelarepossiblyfordeeperaquifersthatarepumpedforwatersupply CoastaquifersinCaliforniacommonlyhaveperchedwaterlevelaquifersthatarewell-connectedhydrauliclytosurface waterandtotheocean,thesewouldbesusceptibletosealevelriseandGWinundation

Lines222-223:GroundwaterintheMalibuareaisnotpumpedforpublicsupply.Thisshouldbemadeclearinthis paragraphasthewaytheinformationispresentedonwouldthinkthatitis

Line253:Fig.1showsprecipitationnotareasofthestatevulnerableto3mofsealevelriseasstated

Line288-289:delete“whichwouldproduceaplanargroundwatersurface ¨andcombinesentences

Lines341-344:Haveyouestimatedinfiltrationfromprecipitationinthisareaandcompareditwithon-sitewastewater treatmentsystemdischarges?Youshouldcheckthatcalculationandverifythewaterbudget

Line427-430:Thisconclusionseemsincorrect.Ifthedatadonotreflecttheworstcasescenario,howcantheyproduce

aconservativeestimate.ItwouldseemtheyunderestimatethepotentialseawaterriseGWinundation?

Line432-434:Thisisamisinterpretationofthedata.ThetidalsignalinC-1isdampedbyWLinthelagoonunderclosed bermconditionspresentatthetime.C-1ismeasuringamuchdifferenthydrologicsettingthantheother2wells

Line443:Thewetareatothewestinanaturalfeature.Thereisanartificialwetlandconstructedintheareaforstormwater capture,butthisisnotit

Line486:replace“chronicallylow”with“lowered”

Lines488-491:Nicestatement.Thisshouldbeincludedintheabstract

Line494:delete“abundant”

Line501-505:Notatruestatementastheaquiferspumpedforwatersupply(suchastheOxnardaquifer)inthearea areoverlainbyshallowerunconfinedaquifers.IntheOxnardareathisaquiferiscommonlyreferredtoasthe“perched aquifer”,althoughnottrulyperchedinmostareasitisunconfinedandhighlysaline.Similaraquifersarepresentallalong theCalifornaicoast

Line508:actuallyrechargefromthesepticsystemsdoescreatetheaquifers,buttheydocauseincreasedwaterlevelsin thoseshallowaquifers.Pleaseclaify

Line513:considerreplacing“potentiallycontaminated”withsomethingontheorderof“highnitrateorbacterial con-centrationsassociatedwithsepticdischarges”

Lines506and521:Considerreplacingthephrases“Coastalbeachcommunities”and“Coastallagooncommunities”with

“Coastalbeachdevelopment”and“Coastallagoondevelopment”

Line576-577:replace“populationpressure”with“increasingpopulation”

Fig.2AThewellsaredifficulttodistinguishfromthecontrolpointsinthefigure,suggestusingdifferentcolors

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