Peer Review History

Original SubmissionJuly 26, 2021
Decision Letter - Haibin Lv, Editor

PONE-D-21-24254

Investigating the water movements around a shallow shipwreck in Big Tub Harbour of Lake Huron: implications for managing underwater shipwrecks.

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Flood,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Dec 05 2021 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

  • A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
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If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Haibin Lv

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: No

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: - We prefer if you use the third person singular, instead of the first person singular or plural (e.g. "we").

- More suitable title should be selected for the article.

- The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone.

- It is suggested to present the structure of the article at the end of the introduction.

- The major defect of this study is the debate or Argument is not clear stated in the introduction session. Hence, the contribution is weak in this manuscript. I would suggest the author to enhance your theoretical discussion and arrives your debate or argument.

- More suitable title should be selected for the table 1 instead of “Summery of instruments deployed in Big Tub Harbour in 2015.”.

- It is suggested to compare the results of the present research with some similar studies which is done before.

- It is suggested to add articles entitled “Nazarnia et al. A Systematic Review of Civil and Environmental Infrastructures for Coastal Adaptation to Sea Level Rise”, “Gholami & Baharlouii. Monitoring Long-term Mangrove Shoreline Changes along the Northern Coasts of the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea” and “Cham et al. An Analysis of Shoreline Changes Using Combined Multitemporal Remote Sensing and Digital Evaluation Model” to the literature review.

- Page 14: the following paragraph is unclear, so please reorganize that:

“We compare the temperature time series acquired in the direct vicinity of the Sweepstakes and at the mouth of the harbour to see if there are any intrusive cold gravity flows in Big Tub Harbour induced by the upwelling of cold waters in Lake Huron. The upwelling events are identified as a drop in water temperature by 5-8 0C in the space of few hours.”

- Much more explanations and interpretations must be added for the Results, which are not enough.

- Please make sure your conclusions' section underscore the scientific value added of your paper, and/or the applicability of your findings/results, as indicated previously. Please revise your conclusion part into more details. Basically, you should enhance your contributions, limitations, underscore the scientific value added of your paper, and/or the applicability of your findings/results and future study in this session.

- DOI of the references must be added (you can use “" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:type="simple">https://crossref.org/").

Reviewer #2: The authors collected a wide variety of field measurements at multiple locations and times and aimed to assess the potential impact of human-derived water movements on shipwrecks. They quantify various parameters of human-derived currents and of natural water currents. It is quite laborious to well collect and analyze such a rich data, while the logical structure of the context is clear. In many instances, the tourism developments impact the conservation and preservation of the natural environment and cultural heritages. Scientific evidence and surveillance regarding to the damaging effect would conduce to develop their mutually beneficial module. This study gave real maneuvers on acquiring observation and objective inference in a scientific way. To facilitate practical reference, some suggestions proposed. Although the results driven from various measurements were summarized in tables and elaborated in content, no inferential statistical analyses were performed. According to the description on data collection, repeated measurement analysis or time series analysis could be used. Other comparable methods are also usable, as long as their applicability is reasonable. At least, 95% confidence intervals for point estimates, e.g., in tables, are recommended to be supplemented. In addition, condensed statements regarding the limitations mentioned in discussion and conclusions should be added in abstract.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Revision 1

Each comment from the reviewers and editors has been considered, and a response provided in the document "Response to Reviewers."

Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.docx
Decision Letter - Ram Kumar, Editor

PONE-D-21-24254R1Investigating water movements around a shallow shipwreck in Big Tub Harbour of Lake Huron: implications for managing and preserving underwater shipwrecksPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Flood,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Dec 01 2022 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

  • A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
  • A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
  • An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.
If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-emailutm_source=authorlettersutm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Ram Kumar

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

Additional Editor Comments:

Thanks for submitting the manuscript to PloseOne . All the reviewers found manuscript useful. Some minor improvements are required to enhance readability and application. I have perused the Ms. and found the study s been done with proper objectives and definitive results are presented. A sentence on application and understanding of water movements in other similar ecosystems like Big Tub Harbour of Lake Huron would further benefit the paper.

Thanks

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #4: (No Response)

Reviewer #5: (No Response)

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: No

Reviewer #5: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #2: The author did appropriate revision partially and provided explanations on revisions which did not comply to the modification suggestions. This study did contribute abundant evidence and demonstrated an objective assessment maneuver for underwater antiquities deteriorated by human activities. I accept the authors' way and their explanations on revisions.

Reviewer #3: I congratulate the authors for considering and efficiently revising the manuscript. The manuscript now seems to be of publishable form.

Reviewer #4: A few of my concerns are as follows:

1. Justification or interpretation should be limited to the discussion section, the glimpses of which could be seen in the results sections.

2. Same goes for the conclusion , which has some results mentioned in it, instead of only concluding statements.

3. Line no: 138 "affect" needs to change with "effect".

4. Line no: 725-728 needs improvement. The statement repeats the citation of Boyce, three times in a single sentence, while making it unclear if the data mentioned, belongs to Boyce, or your study, specifically because of the use of "our study" in between the sentence.

Reviewer #5: It is commendable that the authors collected a range of field measurements in various locations throughout the study site. The hypothesis for this journal also seems to make sense. I appreciate the authors' efforts; however, I would want to make a few suggestions.

• The authors have not been precise; for example, lines 547 to 552 contain numerous repetitions of the same statement.

• Also, I would like recommend some more minor adjustments like: -

i. Line 41 (keyword section)- There are two phrases here, namely "shallow shipwrecks" and "water movement"

these phrases may be substituted with alternative phrases as they are already present in line 1, i.e., title section.

ii. Line 100- “A ring of erosion is visible around the Sweepstake where no aquatic vegetation (Chara sp.)”, why is

Chara sp. listed in brackets while it is said that there is no vegetation present?

iii. Line 105- full form/detailed about ADP should be mentioned.

iv. Line 427 to 428- “Stratified water bodies often have strong currents associated with internal waves that can be a

strong source of oscillating currents” any citations would strengthen this assertion.

v. Line 465- “event or period” specific phrase can be maintained.

vi. Line 469- “variability or maximum” specific phrase can be maintained.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

Reviewer #4: Yes: DEVESH KUMAR YADAV

Reviewer #5: Yes: Abhishek Patel

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[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Revision 2

Please note that the response to reviewers is contained in the submitted document "Response to Reveiwers.doc"

Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.docx
Decision Letter - Ram Kumar, Editor

Investigating water movements around a shallow shipwreck in Big Tub Harbour of Lake Huron: implications for managing and preserving underwater shipwrecks

PONE-D-21-24254R2

Dear Dr. Bryan Flood,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Ram Kumar, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Formally Accepted
Acceptance Letter - Ram Kumar, Editor

PONE-D-21-24254R2

Investigating water movements around a shallow shipwreck in Big Tub Harbour of Lake Huron: implications for managing and preserving underwater shipwrecks

Dear Dr. Flood:

I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org.

If we can help with anything else, please email us at plosone@plos.org.

Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access.

Kind regards,

PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff

on behalf of

Professor Ram Kumar

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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