Estimation of Aerosol Layer Height from OLCI Measurements in the O2A-Absorption Band over Oceans
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In my opinion, the paper can be published, but before publication, the author needs to explain the uncertain influence of weather system changes on aerosol thickness. At least, the author needs to state the uncertainty that weather system may bring to the author's algorithm in the discussion part. Authors could check some articles on weather systems and pollution boundary layer:
Boundary layer structure characteristics under objective classification of persistent pollution weather types
in the Beijing area. Atmos. Chem. Phys , 21, 8863–8882, 2021
Barrier effect of terrain on cold air and return flow of dust air masses, Atmospheric Research, 2019 (220) :81-91.
good
Author Response
Thank you for your comment. Our paper presents a method of retrieving the aerosol layer height from the passive remote sensing instrument OLCI. Besides the aerosol height also the aerosol optical thickness is retrieved. You are absolutely right commenting, that aerosol optical thickness is influenced by the weather system and its changes. Additionally, the height of the aerosol depends on the weather system as stated in L. 27. Our algorithm evaluates the TOA radiance within the O2A absorption band which is effected by the surface pressure. Other weather system parameters like clouds are excluded from the retrieval. The surface pressure is a parameter that can be measured with high accuracy. We use the L1 surface pressure from the OLCI data which originate from ECMWF for our simulations. Thus, the uncertainty due to the surface pressure is minimized. We added this point to the discussion. Other uncertainties on the weather system do not effect the retrieval. They have only an effect on the quantities that are measured. The uncertainty of the ALH depends on the aerosol optical depth which is discussed in the discussion and the newly added Appendix. We don’t see further dependencies of the weather conditions on our algorithm that should be discussed.
The references you recommend describe different weather conditions and their effect on air pollution in Beijing. We don’t think a discussion based on these references is appropriate in context of the presented algorithm and the ocean test scenes west of Africa and west of North America. Zhao-bin et al. stated that the barrier effect of mountainous terrain on cold air leads to significant differences in the vertical structure of aerosols. This variability in the vertical distribution in aerosol is exactly what we want to measure with our algorithm.
Reviewer 2 Report
See attachment please.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
The quality of English language looks good for me.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
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Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
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Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
All my comments and suggestions have been addressed.
As marked above.
Author Response
Thank you. We are happy that we could address all comments.
