Dear Dr. Racapé,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript entitled "Transport and storage of anthropogenic C in the Subpolar North Atlantic : Model - Data comparison” [Paper #cp-2016-541 to Biogeosciences. I have now received an assessment of the two reviewers, as well as your response to the reviewers concerns.

In summary, I consent with the reviewers suggest major revision based on following major issues:

1. This paper shall be focused on the anthropogenic CO2 budget, its variability, and the processes driving these variations. Note that carbon difference between the historical and control run is not the anthropogenic carbon. 2.
2. MOC weak and strong phases should be correlated with the NAO-index and this comparison should be discussed. The MOC bias appears to underestimate transport into and out of the subpolar gyre box. Further, the model-data comparison should focus to analyze mechanisms and drivers of the carbon budget under high and low NAO conditions in more detail.

In addition, the articles discussion need to be substantially improved, i.e., by comparing results from this study with previous studies. The assessment of the robustness of the conclusions given the uncertainties and biases in the model and the data need to be also improved.

The feedback provided in the reviewer assessments of your manuscript is important and should be taken into account as you complete your revision. Please include a marked-up manuscript version showing the changes made in your revision. I encourage you to submit a suitably revised version of your manuscript by September, 1, 2017.

Sincerely,
Arne Winguth
Editor

Dear Dr. Racape,

I have reviewed the status of manuscript bg-2016-541. I approve that the authors Racape et al. provide a revised manuscript by considering the reviewers concerns. One reviewer is awaiting the revised manuscript for review, so I recommend that the authors submit a revised the manuscript including a version with changes highlighted in red by March 1. Please let me know if you have additional questions regarding this manuscript.

Regards,
Arne Winguth

Dear Dr. Racapé

Thank you for addressing the concerns raised by the referees in this revision.
This paper is now suitable for publication.
In line 155 "Observational data" shall be changed to "Observations" .
With this change, I am pleased to inform you that your revised manuscript, "Transport and storage of anthropogenic C in the Subpolar North Atlantic [Paper #bg-2016-541], has been accepted for publication in the journal “Biogeosciences”.

Sincerely,

Arne Winguth
Editor