Ocean Front Detection with Glider and Satellite-Derived SST Data in the Southern California Current System
, Vera Oerder 3,4, Enric Pallà s-Sanz 5 and Joaquim P. Bento 4Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
See the attachment
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear reviewer
Attached in pdf corrections made to the manuscript.
Thanks.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
GENERAL
The manuscript deals with the detection of ocean fronts in the Southern California System. Two data sets are analyzed; glider data along the section CalCOFI line 90 and SST images from the Multi-scale Ultra-high resolution (MUR) data product.
The glider data are analyzed with respect to temperature and density gradients in the top 10 m of the data and MUR data are analyzed along the section line (1D) and also with a two dimensional technique with focus in area along the glider section.
The automatic front detection techniques used, have a long record of use in the remote sensing community resulting in a long list of published papers. This is reflected in the publication list. Thus, the analysis of the SST follows established methodology. The new aspect in this manuscript is to use automated SST image processing techniques to temperature and density data observed with a glider.
There are no major flaws in the manuscript (except missing figure 5). On the other hand, it is not clear what the main findings are.
SPECIFIC COMMENTS
Line 119 – 132 and equations 1 and 2
Why is a 3rd order polynomial used?
There is a mixture of longitudes, latitudes and distances in km in the formulas. E.g. in formula 2 there is a mixture of latitude and longitude and maybe distance in km? The formula is for the shortest distance between two points in a x,y plane, but it is not clear how the interpolation is done.
Line 143
90% cumulative frequency have been used as a definition of fronts in previous studies, why is 90% a natural choice to define fronts in this study.
Figure 2
What is the unit on the y axis?
Line 171
It is referred to method described in section 2.1.2, is it 2.2.1?
Line 207-208
An index is normally unit free, thus the constant r has units. What are the units?
Line 233.
Figure 5 is not included in the manuscript.
Author Response
Dear reviewer
Attached in pdf corrections made to the manuscript.
Thanks.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The article proposes a method for determining the fronts on the basis of glider data and satellite data of the surface sea temperature. This technique is used to count and analyze fronts in the Southern California Current System. In this case, the authors used historical dataset of CUGN (glider observations) and Global SST images from the Multi-scale Ultra-high Resolution (MUR) data product.
On the basis of the proposed methodology, the authors did a great job and obtained interesting results on the quantitative characteristics of the fronts, as well as on front’s features in the coastal, transition and offshore (deep-water) zones of the California Current. The article is of scientific interest.
I have one point to make. I did not find Figure 5 in the article, although there is a link to it in the text.
Author Response
Dear reviewer
The figure 5 was already included in the manuscript. Between Line 251-254. Thanks
