Dear Authors,
Thank you for your responses to the comments.
Some questions still should be clarified.
1. The comments from Referee 2 are quiet helpful, however, some of them are not well addressed. For example, Question 2.c) and 2.d are misunderstanding. It is normally assumed that higher dynamics of a variable, more difficult to be reproduced and bigger magnitude of errors. Following this logic, the better model performance of depth-layer soil compared to upper-layer soil should be discussed. In addition, Question 4c and Question 7 should be clarified in the revised manuscript.
2. Cross-validation is recommended as the same station data are used as both input and validation. For example, leave 1/3 stations for validation and 2/3 as input.
3. I think it should be fully discussed (e.g., previous investigations) concerning to “assimilation of groundwater head does not improve soil moisture and vice versa”. As is also stated by Referee 3.
4. The comment from Referee 3: “Page 17, line 4: improvements in discharge and ET are very small”. The suggestion is not addressed.
5. All the tables and figures should be checked and revised following HESS “Manuscript preparation guidelines for authors”.
Best regards,
Chen