The Spatial-Temporal Differentiation of Aerosol Optical Properties and Types in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region Based on the Ecological Functional Zones

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The study was done at a good professional level, contains high-quality illustrations, but there are remarks:

1. Figure 1(c) - the colors of the legend are not contrasting, it is difficult to understand which region is which. Is it possible to add region letters to the map?

2. I recommend expanding the review of MODIS data, mentioning that MODIS data are widely used for monitoring aerosols, for example (Taschilin, M.; Yakovleva, I.; Sakerin, S.; Zorkaltseva, O.; Tatarnikov, A.; Scheglova, E. Spatiotemporal Variations of Aerosol Optical Depth in the Atmosphere over Baikal Region Based on MODIS Data Atmosphere 2021, 12, 1706. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12121706)

3. 169 line - why was the range "falling (-0.1<??<0)" chosen? Well, if you single it out as a separate group, then maybe the fourth range should be called significant falling? And there is a missing point in this sentence.

4. Figure 2 - what does a divided line mean? And how did you make this line?

5. Figure 3, 6, 9 Y-axis - Letters A, B, C, etc. ..... there is no mark which region they designate. It is better to leave the letters as in Figure 1 (ET, BP, XT ... etc.).

6. Line 284 - expand the names of aerosol abbreviations (CC, UC, BU... etc.) and provide a link with such a classification, please.

7. What happened in July 2015? Does this really fit into the climate norm for aerosol in July? Probably someone investigated this case July 2015?

And why were only two years 2015 and 2020 chosen for analysis? The conclusion - “Ten Measures for the Air” has achieved a remarkable effect - perhaps requires more justification, because it is not clear how anomalous or normal two years of background climatic aerosol are. Also, it is not possible to draw conclusions about aerosol trends from a comparison of two years. Therefore, I recommend softening the wording in the conclusion or adding years between 2015 and 2020 and looking at the trends.

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

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Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments for author File: Comments.doc

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