Dear Wael Abdel Jaber and co-authors,

many thanks for the revision of the manuscript. Even though most of the comments of the reviewers were sufficiently implemented, there were still some points that in my opinion were not answered sufficiently. Some answers were addressed directly to the reviewer without making sufficient changes in the manuscript and the analyses. For this reason a further expert opinion was obtained for the revised version of the manuscript. My concerns were confirmed in the new report and I ask you to implement the comments in the next version detailed and conscientiously.

I think the comments are easy to incorporate and will certainly lead to an improvement of the manuscript. The improvement suggestions do not diminish the quality of the study but will certainly help to further improve the quality of the work and help the reader to better understand the individual steps.

Best regards,
Tobias Sauter

Dear Wael Abdel Jaber, Dear co-authors,

thank you for carefully responding to the reviewers comments and providing a revised manuscript. I think the contribution of the reviewers has considerably improved the quality of the submitted manuscript, both in terms of science and presentation. Therefore, I am happy to recommend the current version of your manuscript for publication in The Cryosphere.

Best regards,
Tobias