I received the comments made by reviewer 1 and responses by the authors. After receiving them, I look through the manuscript again, and agree with the reviewer that the manuscript needs a major revision before it can be considered to be published in HESS. The authors need to reply the comments in detail and make their revision to the manuscript accordingly.

I have gone through the manuscript, the reviewers' comments and authors' replies to these. I do think the your manuscript might be suitable for publication after moderate to major revisions. The comments of the reviewers are constructive and highlight a few points that you should take into account when producing a revised version.

I did receive the favorable comments of one of the reviewers who had served in the previous round. On these bases, and on the basis of my own assessment, I see no reason to delay acceptance.