Dear Dr. Gruber,

Thank you for submitting your paper to Biogeosciences. Three referees have evaluated your paper and agree that it is a nice contribution that is publishable after revision. You have made an extensive rebuttal addressing all points made and I therefore believe that the revised version will have the quality warranting publication in Biogeosciences. I therefore invite you to submit a revised version, that after inspection by me, will likely be acceptable.

With best regards, Jack Middelburg, Associate Editor

Dear Dr. Gruber:

Thank you for submitting your paper to Biogeosciences. I have read the revised version and I am happy to inform you that your paper is now accepted for publication. While reading I identified a few minor issues that require correction or attention:

Page 1, line 29: Primary producers take up dissolved inorganic… (i.e. delete “labile (readily reduced and incorporated into new tissue ’;the point is that dissolved inorganic substances are by definition labile).
Page 2, line 1: delete “labile”
Page 2, line 32: update Green et al. reference, if possible.

I am looking forward seeing your work being used by the community.

With best regards, Jack Middelburg, Associate Editor