This manuscript has reported on several key records from the tropical Andes and provides new insights into potential climate mechanisms driving the differences among those records. Through the standardization approach outlined for the selected pollen records, the authors are able to compare multiple sites through multivariate statistical analysis. Following suggestions of reviewers, the manuscript is greatly improved, including improvements to the title, the figures and the text to clarify the modern climatology, the methodological framework and the major research findings, including a more comprehensive discussion on the complex patterns of moisture variability and role of orbital forcing. The increased attention to Interstadials in this revised version compliments the discussion on stadials, and provides an improved manuscript that is more relevant to the trends captured in the reanalysis of these tropical pollen records.