Lagoon hydrodynamics of pearl farming atolls: the case of Raroia, Takapoto, Apataki and Takaroa (French Polynesia)

Bruyère, Oriane; Le Gendre, Romain; Chauveau, Mathilde; Bourgeois, Bertrand; Varillon, David; Butscher, John; Trophime, Thomas; Follin, Yann; Aucan, Jérôme; Liao, Vetea; Andréfouët, Serge

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5553-2023

Articles | Volume 15, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5553-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5553-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 12

Data description paper

|

08 Dec 2023

Data description paper |

| 08 Dec 2023

Lagoon hydrodynamics of pearl farming atolls: the case of Raroia, Takapoto, Apataki and Takaroa (French Polynesia)

Oriane Bruyère, Romain Le Gendre, Mathilde Chauveau, Bertrand Bourgeois, David Varillon, John Butscher, Thomas Trophime, Yann Follin, Jérôme Aucan, Vetea Liao, and Serge Andréfouët

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Final revised paper (published on 08 Dec 2023)
Preprint (discussion started on 07 Jun 2023)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on essd-2023-198', Anonymous Referee #1, 14 Jul 2023

Please find attached my comments

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-198-RC1
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', serge Andrefouet, 22 Oct 2023
  
  Reply to RC1:
  
  We have taken care of and applied all minor comments and requests related to formatting or English language issues. We do not develop an answer for those requests. B
  elow we provide answers in case of disagreement or when some details were asked.
  Replies are show in bold font below.
  
  Comment on essd-2023-198 by Anonymous Referee
  General Comments
  The authors present a long-term dataset of hydrological and dynamical observations in four atolls in the Tuamotu Archipelago (French Polynesia). These data are particularly precious and relevant as their combination represents the largest volume of oceanographic data collected for any atoll archipelago worldwide. Moreover, these observations are useful to address local pearl farming questions but potentially beneficial for other ecological, geomorphological, sedimentological and management applications. Hence, this study certainly meets the ESSD criteria for data availability.
  
  The presentation of the study sites, sampling strategy and instruments is very detailed even if some inaccuracies are present (as detailed below).
  
  A figure based on available referenced literature characterising the hydrodynamic characteristics of each atoll in the study area could be functional to the manuscript. This could also be useful to better understand the described observational strategy.
  We do not really understand this request for a figure to characterize the hydrodynamics of each study site based on some a priori knowledge, as there was no such a priori knowledge on the hydrodynamic characteristics of each atoll in the study area, besides general understanding of the responses of lagoonal circulation to tide, wave and wind that are already described in section 2.2.
  
  As regards data quality no reference is made to possible intercalibration of instruments also considering concomitant performed oceanographic cruises.
  Instruments of the same nature were not intercalibrated. They were new at the first deployment in Raroia Atoll and normally maintained/serviced between each measurement legs.
  
  In general, only few data with some basic descriptive interpretations are shown and provided in the Result Section. The authors state that detailed publications will follow, while the present manuscript is more focused on the presentation of the data, in line with ESSD journal. Nevertheless, more results and complete time series could be shown in a dedicated Appendix.
  Representative examples of data are shown in the paper for the reader to understand the type of data available and types of processes measured during the deployments. All raw data are available online for potential users. We do not feel that systematically providing complete time series for all data sets in Appendix is granted, and not all papers do so in ESSD.
  
  Specific Scientific Comments
  Line 79: please add Reference to the GEBCO bathymetry both in the main text and in the Data availability Section.
  GEBCO is not one of our data sets, hence it is not included in the Data availability section, only in References. The reference has been added.
  
  Line 163: please add Reference to Sentinel-2, European Space Agency (ESA) both in the main text and in the Data availability Section.
  Sentinel Data is not one of our data sets, hence it is not included in the Data availability section, only in References. The reference has been added.
  
  Line 187-188: please add Reference to Météo-France weather station and ERA5 reanalysis data.
  References or web sites have been added
  
  What about Workhorse installation reported in Table A1 for this site? If ADCP stands for Workhorse please detailed as ADCP Workhorse and ADCP Aquadopp in legenda. The same applies for Figure 5, 6 and 7.
  This has been modified on each figure, and text.
  Table A1 page 24 Please correct “Teledyne RDI Workhorse Sentinel” instead of “Aquadopp Workhorse”. Furthermore, it is not clear which model you are referring to here (Sentinel V50 or V20 or ???) These instruments are not reported in the main text / “Instrument Depth (m)” instead of “Depth (m)” Please also add information about Water Depth per each station.
  The correction to apply is actually ‘Aquadopp Nortek’, hence the other comments are not relevant.
  
  Table A1 page 24: Please add information about Data Range, resolution and accuracy for each instrument.
  The links to all instruments specifications manufacturers are provided in Section 4. Readers can refer to this information.
  
  Line 472: Throughout the manuscript you refer to concomitant oceanographic cruises. Have you also performed an intercalibration of the instruments installed at each station, taking advantage of hydrographical casts? Please show results or comments on this.
  We are not sure to understand this comment. Deployment of the instruments were indeed done in some cases during oceanographic cruises. It was the main goal of the cruise. We don’t understand the comment on performing intercalibration with ‘hydrographical casts’. Like CTD casts? This cannot be used to intercalibrate our instruments (pressure, ADCP, etc..).
  
  Line 519: “Figure 10 shows current intensities (m.s-1) and directions (degrees)” Please use correct SI units and notation here and in Figure 10 (i.e., m s-1 and ° N).
  This has been changed, but the previous notations were also adequate.
  
  Technical Comments
  In general, along the entire manuscript, please consider that the symbol for the unit shall be placed after the numerical value in the expression for a quantity, with a thin space between them, e.g., 12 m, 10 °C.
  This has been checked throughout the ms (see also Reviewer 2)
  
  Figure 1: Please use lowercase letters (a, b,c...) to label parts of the figure (both in the image and in its caption).
  This has been modified when relevant on all figures.
  
  END
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-198-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on essd-2023-198', Anonymous Referee #2, 20 Sep 2023

General comments
The manuscript presents a valuable hydrodynamic data collection in four atolls at the Tuamotu Archipelago (French Polynesia). This data has the potential to be used in a variety of studies, and to be very useful for the local pearl farms as mentioned by the authors.
In my opinion, the study meets the ESSD standards for data availability. The general concepts/main ideas of the manuscript are intelligible, however, for publication, it would benefit from an English revision.
Figures are very good, but there are some imprecisions that should be also revised.

Specific comments
Line 50: “… found in the lagoon of Gambier.” I suggest deleting this part to clarify the sentence.
Line 55-56: “Black pearl farming is the second source of French Polynesia income after tourism. In 2021, it represented a 40million € value in exports.” Please add a reference.
Line 56: “… major activity after nearly 60 years of trials and pioneer work”. 60 years? Is that correct?
Line 61-66: “Four islands and atolls (Gambier, Marutea Sud, Ahe, and Arutua) represent half of the concessions but many atolls contribute to the activity (such as Apataki, Takapoto, Takaroa, Katiu, Kauehi, Raroia, etc.), although there are ups and downs. For instance, Takaroa atoll lagoon suffered a major dystrophy event in 2014 (Rodier et al., 2019), resulting in a mass mortality of oysters and spats. Since then, the activity is moribund in this lagoon, and has not yet revived as in 2023.” Please revise the English to clarify the information.
Line 80: Figure 1. I suggest changing the image order (top left the globe, top right the location of the archipelagos, and at the bottom the larger map) and also adding letters (a, b, and c) to identify each image. In my opinion, it is more intuitive to go from a general overview to something more detailed.
Line 145-149: The sentence is too long. Please revise.
Line 168-170: Figure 3 “Gambier Islands are another site studied from mid-2019 to February 2020. It is a group of high islands and data will be presented elsewhere because the sampling strategy obey to different criteria than atolls.” - If it is not used, why has it been included in the article?
Line 174-176: Please revise the sentence.
Sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4: Please add some references for the information presented.
Line 387-389: The SBE56 were moored at 2 and 40 m depth or were moored between 2 and 40 m depth? Please clarify.
Line 473: “Ferret” Please add some information (e.g. website) about the ferret software.
Line 485: I suggest "Figure 9A illustrates water temperature time series for O1 and L5 stations". However, which atoll are these stations located on? Raroia Atoll?
Line 485-486: I suggest “Figure 9B shows the surface – bottom water temperature differences for L4, L5, and L6 stations at Raroia Atoll (Figure 4).”
Line 487-488: I suggest replacing this sentence with something simpler: “This example shows the passage from the cold to the warm season (approximately 26 °C in August-September to 30 °C in April).”
Line 489-491: “The sampling period shows that the variations are not continuously linear, with different rates of changes (between Leg 2 and Leg 3 for instance) and with episodes of trend inversion (as in mid-November 2018) (Figure 9A).” Please clarify.
Line 538-539: “Wave parameters post-processed from pressure data measured by RBRduet T.D sensors deployed in Apataki Atoll are shown Figure 11.” Figure 11 show the O01 and O03 stations, which are presented at Takapoto Atoll (Figure 5) not Apataki Atoll (Figure 6). Please check.
Line 543-544: “Water elevation measured inside the lagoon (station L05) …” Figure 11 B and C show station L02. Please rectify.
Line 550: Figure 11. Plots B and C should be swapped.
Line 560: “… and for the calibration and validation of hydrodynamic models” instead of “hydrodynamics models cal/val”.
Line 564-566: “Another pearl farming site (Gambier) was not included here and will be presented in a separate publication as it was a lagoon with several high islands and the sampling strategy was different.” If it is not included, why mention it in the article?

Technical corrections
General comment: numbers and units must be separated with a space.
Line 45: study or paper instead of report
Line 48-49: “… spread on a vast Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) with 4.8 million km² …” instead of “… spread on a vast 4.8 million km² Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) …”
Line 52: “… surrounding the lagoon” instead of “… which surrounds a lagoon”.
Line 54: “Currently, only 20 are active or operational.” instead of “… although only about 20 are currently active as in 2023.”
Line 57: “… due to …” instead of “… thanks to …”
Line 61: “… attributed or assigned …” instead of “… devoted …”
Line 88, 89, 92, 93: “Ahe atoll”
Line 89: “in situ” in italic.
Line 92: “Takaroa atoll”
Line 105: “… cruises in Raroia Atoll in 2018 (https://doi.org/10.17600/18000582) and one cruise targeting in particular the Apataki and Takaroa Atolls in 2022 (https://doi.org/10.17600/18001644).” instead of “cruises in Raroia Atoll in 2018 and one cruise targeting in particular the Apataki and Takaroa Atolls in 2022 (respectively, https://doi.org/10.17600/18000582 and https://doi.org/10.17600/18001644).”
Line 110: In my opinion, Figure 1 instead of Figure 2.
Line 156: Please add Atolls, similar to line 157.
Line 170: Table 1 should be placed before Figure 3.
Line 350: “… but the data collected was limited” instead of “… but limited data could be collected”.
Line 360: “2 Oceanographic instruments” It is Section 4, not 2.
Line 393: “Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)” instead of “ADCPs (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler)”
Line 446: “Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS)” instead of “DGPS (Differential Global Positioning System)”
Line 484: “Water temperature records”
Line 489: “°C” instead of “degrees”.
Line 494: “°C” instead of “degree”.
Line 519: “current intensities (m s^-1) and directions (°N)”. Please, also add this to Figure 10.
Line 520: “… the Takaroa pass (P01 in Figure 7)”
Line 520. “The ADCP was moored at 17 m depth (Table A1)”
Line 541: “(mid-July 2022).”

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-198-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', serge Andrefouet, 22 Oct 2023
  
  Reply to RC2 :
  
  We have taken care of and applied all minor comments, technical comments and requests related to formatting or English language issues. We do not develop an answer for those requests.
  Below we provide answers in case of disagreement or when some details were asked.
  Replies are show in bold font below.
  
  RC2: 'Comment on essd-2023-198', Anonymous Referee #2, 20 Sep 2023 reply
  General comments
  The manuscript presents a valuable hydrodynamic data collection in four atolls at the Tuamotu Archipelago (French Polynesia). This data has the potential to be used in a variety of studies, and to be very useful for the local pearl farms as mentioned by the authors.
  In my opinion, the study meets the ESSD standards for data availability. The general concepts/main ideas of the manuscript are intelligible, however, for publication, it would benefit from an English revision.
  Figures are very good, but there are some imprecisions that should be also revised.
  Specific comments
  Line 50: “… found in the lagoon of Gambier.” I suggest deleting this part to clarify the sentence.
  Actually we left that precisions because in this region, all islands are found in the Gambier lagoon. Gambier Islands, and its lagoon, is one of the entity of the Gambier Archipelago, along with a dozen of atolls.
  
  Line 56: “… major activity after nearly 60 years of trials and pioneer work”. 60 years? Is that correct?
  Yes, considering the pioneers from the years 1920s.
  
  Line 168-170: Figure 3 “Gambier Islands are another site studied from mid-2019 to February 2020. It is a group of high islands and data will be presented elsewhere because the sampling strategy obey to different criteria than atolls.” - If it is not used, why has it been included in the article?
  We left this sentence as it is a reference to a companion paper, submitted after the present paper. A reference has been added (Bruyere et al. 2023d)
  
  Sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4: Please add some references for the information presented.
  References have been added,
  
  Line 473: “Ferret” Please add some information (e.g. website) about the ferret software.
  A link to the web site was added.
  END.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-198-AC2

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload

AR by serge Andrefouet on behalf of the Authors (24 Oct 2023) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (30 Oct 2023) by Giuseppe M.R. Manzella

AR by serge Andrefouet on behalf of the Authors (01 Nov 2023)

Short summary

During 2018–2022, four pearl farming Tuamotu atolls (French Polynesia) were studied with oceanographic instruments to measure lagoon hydrodynamics and ocean-lagoon water exchanges. The goal was to gain knowledge on the processes influencing the spat collection of the pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera, the species used to produce black pearls. A worldwide unique oceanographic atoll data set is provided to address local pearl farming questions and other fundamental and applied investigations.