Evaluation 752 by Anon (session_user_id: 5e3ac093358bc8f564af2b2090d62f4231fd359f)
What is your overall decision about this article?
7
Are the selection criteria for the stations well explained? Or, if this project does not have to do with time series met. stations, are the premises of the project well thought out and explained? Is it a topic of special interest? (It doesn't have to be, but if it is, say so).
The most important step in a project like this is to choose a subject that is potentially answerable within the resources available. Yours is not the most ambitious project I've reviewed, but it is a nice piece that presents a coherent story, makes sensible use of the tools available, and stays within the word count.
You're also the first person I've reviewed who has submitted a PDF but has still kept within the word count, thank you!
Are the data stations well quality-controlled?
Your choice of stations is not well explained. If they were chosen "at random", it would be good if, for instance, you could test another few sets of ten stations and confirm without going into details whether their temperature rises are comparable. (I accept that you are word-count constrained.)
If I choose another random set of Mediterranean stations I find the 1950-2013 average is 0.17 C per decade and the 1970+ average is 0.30. This is a casual check that took only a few minutes. I didn't inspect each station to decide whether there may be a problem with it, which would be ideal; but also, it would take almost no time to make a few simple tests like this, to see whether your numbers are representative or caused by random volatility.
Or you could just take a single much larger set of Mediterranean stations. Since the browser is doing all the work of calculating your decadal temperature changes, and all you have to do is take their average, it's not that hard to take a larger data set.
Are the conclusions of the report quantitatively supported by the data?
"Regarding precipitation, models show different solutions". "For rainfall, models do not show a clear tendency."
I don't understand these comments, which you don't attempt to quantify.
The browser includes eight models that give precipitation forecasts at least as far as 2099, the date that you use. If I check every one, I find that eight out of eight predict reduced precipitation across the northern/central Mediterranean from 2000 to 2099. So I disagree with your observation.
(This is using the climate model mapper, which assumes the business-as-usual RCP85 scenario; but this appears to be the same as you use in your figure 2 so I don't think I'm being inconsistent with you.)