The Moist Adiabat, Key of the Climate Response to Anthropogenic Forcing
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
There are annotaed comments in the pdf file provided. Please consult them.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
The revision of the manuscript led me to change the title. The title “What we learn from the latitudinal and longitudinal…” has been replaced by ‘The moist adiabat, key of the climate response to anthropogenic forcing”, which seems more relevant because it is much more synthetic: the whole article is focused on properties of the moist adiabat.
Former figures 3 were wrong; they are replaced by Figures 4a, b. A new figure 4c is added. These modifications do not alter the reasoning which remains nearly unchanged. Nevertheless, more explanations have been added in 4.1, supported by the new figure 4c.
Reviewer #1
Of course, all corrections have been made except:
- Figures 5 and 6: the months chosen are not the same, February and August in figure 5, January and July in figure 6 because they are intended to show the lowest and highest temperatures over the year. The figures are independent, they represent the SAT and the SST and any comparison between the two would not make physical sense.
- Line 407: Obviously we are not talking about the same variable because the values of albedo and extraterrestrial solar flux are indisputable (A≠3 and F0=1365.8 W/m2).
References to websites are removed.
Submitted references are replaced by published papers.
As concerns the difference between anthropogenic forcing and anthropogenic forcing efficiency, further explanation is given in paragraph 4.4.
Regarding the variables referring to temperatures, an effort has been made to clarify. An index to specify different temperatures in a same formula is introduced. Now the moist adiabat at the altitude z=0 is written ; SAT and SST have a special meaning.
Heat fluxes are represented with a capital letter Q. Differential heat fluxes are resulting from a temperature anomaly and they are represented with a letter q in lower case. Differential heat flux q is a fractional part of the corresponding heat flux Q (Appendix B).
I did not notice any error in the formulas, nor the presence of redundant terms. The steps for obtaining the formula related to the latent heat flux have been explained.
Reviewer 2 Report
Review for climate-722292 : “What we learn from the latitudinal and longitudinal
distribution of the anthropogenic forcing efficiency” by Jean-Louis Pinault
This paper studies the latitudinal and longitudinal distribution of anthropogenic forcing efficiency using the environmental adiabatic lapse rates. I found the manuscript interesting considering the importance of anthropogenic emission impacts on radiative forcing. However, I found the paper is a little hard to read where the definition, significance, and calculation methods for some key variables (e.g. cross-wavelet power) are missing. The method to disentangle the impacts of variability of climate and anthropogenic forcing on surface air temperature can also be further justified.
Major Comments:
- Anthropogenic forcing efficiency: How to define and calculate the anthropogenic forcing efficiency? How the author disentangles the impacts of variability of climate and anthropogenic forcing? Are there any literature to support?
- Missing definitions: There are a couple places where the definition and calculation methods of the key variable are not clear. For example, cross-wavelet power and coherence phase in Figure 2, It can make the manuscript more readable by including these clarifications.
Minor comments:
- Ln 41: The reference in [3] should be written as AUTHOR, et al.
- Ln 58: Definition of should be written out when the first time it appears.
- Ln 85: Appendix C is references before Appendix B.
- Ln 105: Can the author be more clear about the ‘sensitive heat fluxes resulting from the low-pressure system’?
- Ln 110: This is the place where Appendix B appears the first time.
- Section 2 Data: I recommend the detailed web links moved to the references.
- Ln 129: What is anthropogenic component Ts?
- Ln 161 and Ln 162: Please write out RRH and ENSO.
- Ln 172: Table 1 is not referenced here.
- Ln 245: ‘Figure 4’ is in difference font size.
- Ln 247: Please write out ‘CAPE’ the first time it appears in the text.
- Ln 273: I didn’t see related formula in appendix C
- Color bar in Figure 5 and Figure 6 is missing.
- Ln 304: How is anthropogenic forcing efficiency defined?
- Ln 369: ‘MALR(T)’---Typo?
Author Response
The revision of the manuscript led me to change the title. The title “What we learn from the latitudinal and longitudinal…” has been replaced by ‘The moist adiabat, key of the climate response to anthropogenic forcing”, which seems more relevant because it is much more synthetic: the whole article is focused on properties of the moist adiabat.
Former figures 3 were wrong; they are replaced by Figures 4a, b. A new figure 4c is added. These modifications do not alter the reasoning which remains nearly unchanged. Nevertheless, more explanations have been added in 4.1, supported by the new figure 4c.
Reviewer #2
This paper studies the latitudinal and longitudinal distribution of anthropogenic forcing efficiency using the environmental adiabatic lapse rates. I found the manuscript interesting considering the importance of anthropogenic emission impacts on radiative forcing. However, I found the paper is a little hard to read where the definition, significance, and calculation methods for some key variables (e.g. cross-wavelet power) are missing. The method to disentangle the impacts of variability of climate and anthropogenic forcing on surface air temperature can also be further justified.
Major Comments:
Anthropogenic forcing efficiency: How to define and calculate the anthropogenic forcing efficiency? How the author disentangles the impacts of variability of climate and anthropogenic forcing? Are there any literature to support?
Further explanations are given in 3.1. I'm sorry, the only references available are mine. All this work is based on very recent results.
Missing definitions: There are a couple places where the definition and calculation methods of the key variable are not clear. For example, cross-wavelet power and coherence phase in Figure 2, It can make the manuscript more readable by including these clarifications.
Further information is given in 3.2.
Minor comments:
Ln 41: The reference in [3] should be written as AUTHOR, et al.
I don't understand, Stephens G. L. is the only author?
Ln 58: Definition of should be written out when the first time it appears.
Corrected
Ln 85: Appendix C is references before Appendix B.
Corrected
Ln 105: Can the author be clearer about the ‘sensitive heat fluxes resulting from the low-pressure system’?
Excuse me, it is a mistake of carelessness in the translation from French to English. It is actually sensible heat.
Ln 110: This is the place where Appendix B appears the first time.
Section 2 Data: I recommend the detailed web links moved to the references.
Corrected
Ln 129: What is anthropogenic component Ts?
Ts is removed
Ln 161 and Ln 162: Please write out RRH and ENSO.
Corrected
Ln 172: Table 1 is not referenced here.
Corrected
Ln 245: ‘Figure 4’ is in difference font size.
Ln 247: Please write out ‘CAPE’ the first time it appears in the text.
Corrected
Ln 273: I didn’t see related formula in appendix C
is the moist adiabat at the altitude z=0 (the equation of the moist adiabat is given in the Appendix C).
Color bar in Figure 5 and Figure 6 is missing.
NOAA does not provide color bars but the corresponding values are explicitly written in the figures.
Ln 304: How is anthropogenic forcing efficiency defined?
Further information is given in 4.4
Ln 369: ‘MALR(T)’---Typo?
Typo is “MALR” (corrected)
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Please give a reference for the solar constant of 1365.80 W/m2 you use in Appendix A.
You should also clarify in the text why you use different months in the Figs 5 and 6 instead of the same.
Author Response
Please give a reference for the solar constant of 1365.80 W/m2 you use in Appendix A.
Ref. 23 : “Total Solar Irradiance (TSI)“ https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/solar/solarirrad.html. Retrieved on 2020-03-11.
You should also clarify in the text why you use different months in the Figs 5 and 6 instead of the same.
Fig. 5: These are the months for which temperatures are extreme in each of the hemispheres.
Fig. 6: Like in Figure 5 these are the months for which temperatures are extreme in each of the hémisphères.
Reviewer 2 Report
The author has addressed my comments.
Author Response
The author has addressed my comments.
It's OK
