Dear John,

Based on the two globally positive reviews on your paper and on your response to both reviews, I encourage you to submit a revised version of your manuscript. I will review again this revised version before accepting it for publication in TC.

As they were few points in your response to reviewer #1 for which you were expecting input from my side, my comments are:

- interior forcing: I think it is now clear enough if "interior forcing" is clearly defined as being (only) a perturbation of the surface mass balance over the grounded part of the ice-sheet.

- Style: I will have a careful of the revised version of your manuscript and check if the style follows the TC standard.

- C and A values: I agree that these values should be given (add references to justify the chosen values)

- \times versus \cdots: the answer is may neither but nothing! When it is the product of two scalar I think no sign is needed (S L is preferred, instead of S \cdot L or S \times L). But looking at the IUPAC Green Book (refereed here https://www.the-cryosphere.net/for_authors/manuscript_preparation.html), it seems that all 3 notations are admitted by TC. Anyway, it should be used consistently all along the manuscript.

Regards,
Olivier Gagliardini

Dear John,

Thanks for your careful reply to both reviews and the revised version of your manuscript. Based on this new version, I am happy to accept your paper for publication in The Cryosphere.
Thanks for having choosing The Cryosphere to publish this original and dense piece of work!

Regards,
Olivier Gagliardini