Dear Dr. Batehup,

As you could read during the open review phase of the manuscript, the concerned expressed by the evaluators were essentially minor (except one by Oliver Bothe, which rather entailed better description of the EOF method employed.

You have now submitted a response to the reviewers points, together with a revised manuscript. Formally, we need to proceed in a slightly different way. After my decision (this email on the initial submission, that takes into account the reviewer's evaluation and your response, you will be prompted by the submission system to upload the revised manuscript. I can then proceed with my final decision on the revised version.

Sincerely,

Eduardo Zorita

Dear Dr. Batehup,

Thank you for considering in your revised version of the manuscript the suggestions expressed by the reviewers. In my evaluation, this version properly addresses those suggestions and, therefore, I am happy to recommend your manuscript for publication in Climate of the Past.

Sincerely,

Eduardo Zorita