PONE-D-24-58781Evaluating Land-Cover Change and Land Subsidence in Coal Fire Zones: Insights from Multi-Source MonitoringPLOS ONE

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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: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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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: The topic of this paper has important practical significance. It focuses on the surface coverage changes and land subsidence in coal fire areas, and reveals the ecological and geological effects of these areas through multi-source monitoring methods. The research method is innovative, which combines remote sensing, thermal infrared imaging, UAV survey and field investigation, and provides comprehensive data support for the monitoring of coal fire disaster. The topic selection has important practical significance, and the research method is scientific and reasonable, but there are still some improvements in some links, which can be accepted after modification.

1.It is suggested that the methods, parameters and basis of each link of data prepossessing should be described in detail to ensure the repeatability of data processing and the reliability of results, and to enhance the scientificity of research.

2.Although each monitoring index was analyzed separately, the correlation was not deep, and there was a complex feedback mechanism between vegetation cover change and soil nutrient, water and land subsidence. The paper did not fully explore these internal relations, and suggested that statistical analysis or model simulation methods could be used to study the interaction mechanism between vegetation, soil, topography and other factors.

3.The geological conditions, coal quality characteristics and climatic background of different coalfields are quite different, and the generalization of research conclusions is limited, and the basis for selecting Fire Zone 1 and Fire Zone 3 is not fully explained in the specific research background. It is suggested to add background introduction to explain the particularity and representativeness of the study area. If we can compare and analyze the data of other typical coal fire areas or refer to relevant research cases, and strengthen the discussion of regional universality, the application value of research results can be improved.

4.Figure 10 is located between figure 1 and figure 2, check whether the upload or sort error.

5.It is suggested that the conclusion part should be revised to clarify the practical application value and significance of the research.

Reviewer #2: The graphs and maps require quality improvements for better clarity. For instance, it is challenging to distinguish the gradations of indices (e.g., FVC and RSEI) in some figures.

Data processing methods, such as index normalization or interpolation, need more detailed descriptions. Additionally, it is unclear how the study zones (Fire Zone 1 and Fire Zone 3) were selected and why they were chosen for analysis.

Why not conduct a comparative analysis with other coal regions (e.g., India or the USA) to emphasize the uniqueness and scientific significance of the results? Adding an analysis of the influence of certain climatic and meteorological factors (e.g., changes in precipitation and temperature) on fire zones would improve the contextual understanding.

In the results section, the authors should clarify how changes in the RSEI and FVC indices are related to restoration measures. For example, how exactly did these measures impact vegetation recovery?

The authors mention the use of Landsat data but do not specify the resolution of the images or the frequency of their acquisition. This should be corrected.

Are potential remote sensing errors (e.g., atmospheric distortions or topographic effects) considered?

It is recommended to more clearly highlight the novelty of the study compared to previously published works, especially considering the use of multispectral data.

The text contains repetitions of key ideas, particularly in the results and discussion sections. For instance, it is repeatedly mentioned that coal fires lead to vegetation and soil degradation. Instead, the focus could be placed on the unique aspects of each study zone (Fire Zone 1 and Fire Zone 3), avoiding redundant repetition of already obvious conclusions.

Information about the methods used (e.g., the application of Landsat and UAVs) in the methodology section sometimes overlaps with the description of results. This creates an impression of duplication. It is recommended to keep the methodology in the appropriate section and the results in subsequent sections.

Some sections seem overly saturated with information. For instance, the discussion of FVC and RSEI contains numerous details that could be condensed into a table or presented graphically, allowing the text to focus solely on the interpretation of these data.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Evaluating Land-Cover Change and Land Subsidence in Coal Fire Zones: Insights from Multi-Source Monitoring

PONE-D-24-58781R1

Dear Dr. Xie,

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.

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Kind regards,

Mikalai Filonchyk

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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 #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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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 #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: 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 #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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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 #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: 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 #1: I am glad to receive this manuscript again. I noticed that the author has taken seriously and basically solved the problems raised in the last review process, and the quality of the manuscript has been greatly improved. The structure, logic and the presentation of experimental data have been significantly improved, and the combination of theoretical analysis and experimental results is closer. On the whole, the manuscript has basically met the requirements of the journal. Therefore, I recommend receiving the manuscript and look forward to its positive academic impact in related fields.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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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 #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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