The Chemical Characteristics of Rainwater and Wet Atmospheric Deposition Fluxes at Two Urban Sites and One Rural Site in Côte d’Ivoire
, Kerneels Jaars 5, Sylvain Gnamien 1, Richmond Konan 1, Eric Gardrat 2 and Siélé Silué 6
Jakub Kubečka
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Kassamba-Diaby et al. experimentally studied rainwater in three nearby African sites, each located in a different ecoregion. They measured several rainwater characteristics (e.g., pH) and studied chemical composition over a three-year time period. The resultant values are compared to other sites in the whole world. Further, they identified potential sources (e.g., marine/terrigenous) of these compounds at different times of year. All variables are well explained and supported by equations. The measurement methodology is not discussed within the manuscript, but all used equipment is well referenced. The manuscript was easy to read and easy to understand. The content is perfectly suited for publication in the Atmosphere journal. I would not say a word if the manuscript would be published as is; however, I do suggest a few very minor improvements.
- How much does the chemical composition change from rainwater collection to its actual measurement, separated by up to 6 months? Perhaps you could add a sentence to the manuscript addressing this.
- Although all abbreviations are well explained (or their full name is not required), I think that you should provide the full name for the ‘MSA’ abbreviation and explain the meaning of ‘tcarb’ earlier in the text.
- The quality of the figures is certainly not perfect. Although all important values are readable, I do recommend uploading better-quality figures. Additionally, in Figure 2, specify the y-axes of the subfigures d-f and mention (at least in the caption) if the RH range is really between 0 and 100 %.
- Eq. S3 is meaningless, perhaps including the concentration, |H+|, would make the equation valid
- Idk why only ammonium ion is presented as NH4+ instead of NH_4^+
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1:
Comment 1: How much does the chemical composition change from rainwater collection to its actual measurement, separated by up to 6 months? Perhaps you could add a sentence to the manuscript addressing this.
Response to comment 1: We assume that the chemical composition of rainwater does not change between collection and measurement because the samples are stored in a freezer to stop any chemical reaction. This is now mentioned in the Materials and Methods section.
Comment 2: Although all abbreviations are well explained (or their full name is not required), I think that you should provide the full name for the ‘MSA’ abbreviation and explain the meaning of ‘tcarb’ earlier in the text.
Response to comment 2: done
Comment 3: The quality of the figures is certainly not perfect. Although all important values are readable, I do recommend uploading better-quality figures. Additionally, in Figure 2, specify the y-axes of the subfigures d-f and mention (at least in the caption) if the RH range is really between 0 and 100 %.
Response to Comment 3: We updated Figures 2 and 4 to make them more readable.
Comment 4 : Eq. S3 is meaningless, perhaps including the concentration, |H+|, would make the equation valid
Response to comment 4: the typo was fixed.
Comment 5: - Idk why only ammonium ion is presented as NH4+ instead of NH_4^+
Response to comment 5: the typo was fixed.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The introduction section needs a fundamental change. It is necessary to write this section in a more scientific way and refer to the results of similar studies in different parts of the world. It is also emphasized that in the introduction, the possible origin of each of the ions investigated in this MS should be mentioned with reference. Please see other comments in the attached file.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Response to reviewer 2
General comment 1: The introduction section should be written in a more scientific manner and refer to the results of similar studies on the possible origins of each of the ions in rainwater
Response 1: We added references to previous studies linking rainwater ionic composition to the air masses origins and rewrote some parts of the introduction.
Line 48: Done
Line 57: Done, we add these Words after Impacts “air pollution”
Line 82: This paragraph is not related to this manuscript: This paragraph has been removed
Line 92: done, the word “over” has been deleted
Line 115: done, the word “million” has been deleted
Line 148: done, the word parameter was replaced by quantity.
Line 234: which meteorological data is used to run HYSPLIT model?
The HYSPLIT model was run with the American National Weather Service’s (NWS) National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) model data (available at https://www.ready.noaa.gov/archives.php). This is now mentioned in the text.
Line 354: This color is different from legend color. Fixed.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
