Weather and Forecasting
American Meteorological Society
DR. WILLIAM A. GALLUS JR., CHIEF EDITOR
DR. BRIAN A. COLLE, EDITOR
DR. DA-LIN ZHANG, EDITOR
DR. BRIAN A. COLLE
SCHOOL OF MARINE AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY / SUNY
STONY BROOK, NY 11794-5000
TEL: 631-632-3174
FAX: 631-632-6251
E-MAIL: waf-editor@sunysb.edu
Manuscript No: 2222400
Mr. Hálfdán Ágústsson
Institute for Meteorological Research
Orkugarði, Grensásvegi 9
108 Reykjavík, Iceland
8 March 2010
Dear Mr. Ágústsson:
I have now received three careful reviews of your paper entitled “The importance of high resolution for simulating observed
lee-wave rotor turbulence.” Based on the comments of the reviewers and my own evaluation, I am sorry to inform you that
your paper cannot be published in its current form. Only reviewer B formally recommended rejection, but given the equally
extensive comments from reviewers A and C I concur with reviewer’s B recommendation to reject the paper as currently
written. It may be possible to make the substantial changes necessary for the paper to eventually be published, but this will
require the paper to be resubmitted as a new submission.
All reviewers thought the numerical investigation of rotors in the Iceland area is an area of interest; however, there are three
major concerns that prevent publication. First, your analysis is not complete enough in order to objectively understand
model performance. In particular, as noted by reviewer B, the available observational data was not synthesized to compare
quantitatively with the model. For example, although it is clear that higher resolution produces more realistic lee waves,
there is limited observational evidence (comparisons with satellite and turbulence reports) presented that a lee wave was
occurring. Rather, the model is compared against previous idealized models of such events. Second, the focus of this paper
is on horizontal resolution impacts, but as reviewer C notes, the importance of high resolution for these events is already
fairly well known, and there other rotor sensitivities that need to be explored numerically (vertical resolution, surface drag,
fluxes, etc…). A more comprehensive set of sensitivity simulations addressing these issues would be a more valuable
contribution to the literature. Finally, reviewer A lists many of the organizational and figure issues with the paper. The
reviewers have other major suggestions to improve the content of the manuscript for your consideration as well.
Again, I am sorry I don't have better news, but I thank you for your interest in Weather and Forecasting. Please contact me
directly if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Brian A. Colle