Reviewer

Abstract

This manuscript presents a new approach to modeling the flow of water within Rhizophora mangroves. The key improvements to the COAWST vegetation package are: (1) allowing the vertical varying projected area density (frontal area per unit plan area), (2) using the root and stem length-scales in the turbulence dissipation terms, (3) implementing the Rhizophora module which can calculate projected area density from easily obtainable field measurements. These improvements allow the field to move beyond the conventional cylinder assumption, and are generally applicable to all hydrodynamically rough environments which aren’t well described by cylinders.