General comments:

* 2-57: Rewrite the 2nd paragraph in section 2, especially the "We carry out two
sensitivity simulations for 32 year" ... seeing that you carry out 1 control
run plus 3 sensitivity runs.

* Fig 1: Can you provide a sub-figure showing the same info as in main figure 1
but at increased "zoom" for the BA area?

* 3-63ff: What is the scientific motivation for the choices for the values of the
transfer coefficients for the 3 "modified" scenarios, especially for HMELT?

* Remove Tab S2 and inclue text in short form in text body.
--> Agree with Ref #3 about the confusing naming of "LMELT" vs "CTRL". --> Swap.

* Overall the detail provided for the model description should be broadened to
allow the reader to understand the process implications of the ice-shelf melt,
i.e., in terms of the evolution of the ice shelves within the model and the
near-coastal ocean and sea ice.

* Section 3.1 Model Evaluation is relatively brief, especially with note to the
evolution of the ice shelves and sea ice for the 4 different simulations. Suggest
to expand.

* Similarly sections 4 and to some degree 5 are very brief. I suggest you expand
these. For example, there are no timeseries figures/detailed info from your model
runs... which might be helpful to understand the mechanisms of the spread and
modfication of the meltwater.
Also what secondary processes does the appearance of the meltwater trigger within
the model?

* By which criteria have tables and figures been moved into supplemental material?
I would prefer all be included in the main paper.

* Fig 1: Can you provide a sub-figure showing the same info as in main figure 1
tighten. Importantly pls explore if the code can be open source.


Minor comments:
1-7: Correct "Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas" to "Amundsen and Bellingshausen seas".
1-18 and throughout ms: Correct "e.g." to "e.g.,"."Ross, and Weddell Seas"
1-19: Change "Their recent high basal melt rates coincide with a few glaciological
observations,"that show evidence for" to "Against the backdrop of increased
basal melt give evidence of".
1-21: Change "There exist a few other evidences" to "There have been few studies".
4-93: Naming of "RS basin": The respective area indicated in Fig 1 appears to be
outside the Ross Sea. Pls verity correctness of naming of RS Basin.
4-118: Correct "east Antarctic" to "East Antarctic".
5-125: Correct "east Antarctic" to "East Antarctic".
5-134: Correct the citation to be an in text citation.
5-135: Change "and long response time scales of 15-20 years" to "and slow response
of 15-20 years".
5-144: Correct "0.035 g kg^-^1" to "0.0035 g kg^-^1".
5-145: Correct "0.016 g kg^-^1" to "0.0016 g kg^-^1".
Fig2 caption: Correct "Ross, and Weddell Seas" to "Ross, and Weddell seas".

Dear authors,
thank you for your revisions. Your manuscript has greatly improved. Before proceeding, pls address the following issues in your latest ms version. -- Thank you.

l64: Change "We carry out" to "We carried out".
l66: Change "(Holland and Jenkins, 1999) but the drag coefficient" to "Holland and Jenkins (1999) with the drag coefficient".
l80: Change "Using ocean state" to "Using the ocean state".
l83: Change "The time series of sea ice extent also show similar variability to observations" to "The variability of the modelled sea ice extent is similar to those in the observed data".
l85: Change "Bottom salinity shows" to "The bottom salinity exhibits".
l85: Change "local salinity maxima" to "local maxima".
l86: Change "in both" to "in both,".
l87: Change "Despite general" to "Despite the general".
l88: Change "on-shelf CDW temperature is" to "the on-shelf CDW temperatures are".
l88: Change "roughly by 0.5 C" to "by roughly 0.5 C".
l88: Change "the salinity gradients in AS and BS seem to be more pronounced in observations" to "the observed salinity gradients in the AS and BS are more strongly pronounced than in the model results".
l92: Change "(Table 2; Depoorter et al. (2013); Rignot et al. (2013))." to "(Table 2; Depoorter et al., 2013x; Rignot et al., 2013)."
l94: Add "the" to read "on the 2006-2007 ice shelf configurations".
l95: Change "may represent better" to "may better represent".
l99: Add "the" to read "the melt flux decreases".
l99: Change "until the" to "towards the".
l100: Change "This temporal variability is similar to the PRS case." to "This evolves similarly to what was obtained in the PRS case."
l101: Change "does not show" to "does not exhibit".
l101: Change "remains similar at the value" to "remains at a value".
l106: Correct "the the RS" to "the RS".
l107: Change "(Fig. 5; Nakayama et al. (2014a); Dinniman et al. (2016))." to "(Fig. 5; Nakayama et al., 2014a; Dinniman et al., 2016)."
l108: Add info to where the glacial meltwater spreads: "further downstream of/to XXXX".
l118: Change "warming and a" to "warming as well as a".
l119: Change "that we simulate" to "us simulating".
l122: Change "(see the black arrow in Fig. S3)" to "(Fig. S3, black arrow)".
l123: Change "occurs along with" to "occurs in parallel to".
l135: Change "deep RS" to "the deep RS".
l144: Change "roughly 5 more years" to "an additional five years".
l149: Change "Previous studies show" to "Previous studies showed".
l152: Change "is at least an order of magnitude greater than ice shelf melt over the observational period" to "would require an order of magnitude higher ice shelf melt rates for the duration of the observations".
l153: Change "We also note" to "Importantly we note".
l153: Change "spreading on sea ice" to "spread on the sea ice".
l154: Add "the" to read "the sea-ice extent".
l154: Hyphenation rules: This is the first time you use the hyphen: "sea-ice extent" ---> Need to be consistent throughout the ms.
l161: Change "We aim to investigate" to "We set out to investigate".
l176: Change "(e.g., Nakayama et al. (2019); Shean et al. (2019))" to "(e.g., Nakayama et al., 2019; Shean et al., 2019)".
l177: Change "and simulates on-shelf CDW intrusions possibly weaker than observations" to "and consequently simulated on-shelf CDW intrusions are weaker than those observed"
l180: This sentence would improve with some rewriting.
l188: Change "is high." to "peaks."????
l189: Change "and a slow response of 15-20 years" to "and a relatively sluggish response over the 15 to 20 model years".
l189: Change "we are likely not able to extract the effect of enhanced ice shelf melting from the existing observations in these regions" to "the effect of enhanced ice shelf melting cannot clearly be detected in the existing observations for these regions".
l191: Add "observed" to read "of the observed salinity decrease".
l191: Change "today, circum-Antarctic freshening could be underway." to "by now, circum-Antarctic freshening is likely to occur".
l192: Remove "solely". It doubles up with "alone".
l193: Change "due to a strong density gradient" to "due to an increased density gradient".
l194: Change "(Nakayama et al. (2014a))" to "(Nakayama et al., 201References: I have not cross-checked these. Pls do so and correct as necessary.

Figures: They are very small. Can you provide larger figures?

Fig. 2: Add "L" to read "for the LMELT (L) case."
Fig. 2: Change "as black lines." to "in black."
Fig. 5: Change "as black lines." to "in black."
Fig. 6: Change "as black lines." to "in black."
Fig. 7: Change "as black lines." to "in black."
Fig. 9: Change "as black lines." to "in black."

Tab. 2: Should are increased for sensitivity experiments." read "are increased in the sensitivity experiments."?
Tab. 2: Separate references by semicolon not comma: "Rignot et al., 2013; Depoorter et al., 2013"
4a)".
l196: Change "However, for other cases," to "However for the other cases,".
l201: Change "converge towards the end of the simulation" to "towards the end of the simulation converge".
l203: Change "Further investigations with longer model integration" to "Further studies with longer model integration times".
Ie. to avoid "investigations" and "investigate" in the one sentence.
l210: Change "can propagate further downstream" to "may propagate further downstream".
l210: Further to what? --> "further in case x than in case y".
l214: "may impact": How? --> "may reduce the production of AABW".
l217: Change "when ice loss in the AS and BS is high." to "when ice loss in the AS and BS is significant."
l220: Change "for understanding" to "to understand".
l233: Remove "The model code, processing tools, and raw model output are difficult to make publicly available, and the authors recommend contacting the corresponding author for those interested in accessing the data."
l236: Correct "140 E" to "140 ^oE" (include degree sign).

References in general: Unsure if TC requires to include DOIs. --> Pls check.

References: I have not cross-checked these. Pls do so and correct as necessary.

Figures: They are very small. Can you provide larger figures?

Fig. 2: Add "L" to read "for the LMELT (L) case."
Fig. 2: Change "as black lines." to "in black."
Fig. 5: Change "as black lines." to "in black."
Fig. 6: Change "as black lines." to "in black."
Fig. 7: Change "as black lines." to "in black."
Fig. 9: Change "as black lines." to "in black."

Tab. 2: Should are increased for sensitivity experiments." read "are increased in the sensitivity experiments."?
Tab. 2: Separate references by semicolon not comma: "Rignot et al., 2013; Depoorter et al., 2013".

Dear authors.

Thank you for the swift revision of your ms. Your updated materials have been uploaded last night (10 June in Europe) by the editorial office and made available to me.

I am happy to recommend acceptance of your article, noting that I would like to request one minor technical correction (below) plus the editorial office check if references need to be provided/shown with their DOIs.

Minor edit:
l210: Change "can propagate further downstream" to "may propagate further downstream".

If I may suggest, you might consider to acknowledge the three reviewers for their assistance during the review process of your ms submission.

I thank you for submitting your manuscript for publication in TC.
With kind regards,
Petra Heil
_______________________________________
Australian Antarctic Division -- Glaciology
and
University of Tasmania -- AAPP
Private Bag 80, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia

Email: Petra.Heil"at"utas.edu.au
_______________________________________