dear authors,

thanks for the extensive and serious replies to all the reviews. As is clear from the reviews, the paper is seen as innovative and interesting. It clearly fits in HESS.
In my opinion, a major part of the concerns and remarks of the reviewers relates to unclear definitions, terminology, explanation and clarity of figures, etc. This also lead to questions on your findings or the explanations of your results. You agreed to that point in your replies (and already explained some of the issues).
I therefore decided that your paper can be accepted in HESS, however, the paper
needs major revision along the lines indicated in the replies. I am quite convident this will improve the impact your paper could have.

I look forward receiving a revised version in due time
Thanks for the interesting paper and discussion,

Kind regards, Thom

dear authors

after some delay with reviewers I am happy to say the manuscript is accepted for publications (some minor technical details). I quote the reviewer: "The manuscript has been completely rearranged and is now suitable for publication. The revised version has substantially improved, taking into account all the observations made by the reviewers, and I can say that now the contribution is much more significant than it was originally.".

Please find attached the technical corrections proposed by the reviewer.

Thanks in advance, regards, Thom
Just very few technical points still need to be corrected.