Articles | Volume 21, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-2169-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.Capturing dense shelf water cascading with a high-resolution ocean reanalysis
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- Final revised paper (published on 02 Oct 2025)
- Preprint (discussion started on 31 Mar 2025)
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor
| : Report abuse
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-1309', Anonymous Referee #1, 16 Apr 2025
- CEC1: 'Reply on RC1', Karen J. Heywood, 16 Apr 2025
- AC2: 'Reply on RC1', Helena Fos, 27 Jun 2025
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-1309', Anonymous Referee #2, 12 May 2025
- AC1: 'Reply on RC2', Helena Fos, 27 Jun 2025
Peer review completion
AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
AR by Helena Fos on behalf of the Authors (27 Jun 2025)
Author's response
Author's tracked changes
Manuscript
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (30 Jun 2025) by Anne Marie Treguier
RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (07 Jul 2025)

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (08 Jul 2025)
ED: Publish as is (12 Jul 2025) by Anne Marie Treguier

AR by Helena Fos on behalf of the Authors (16 Jul 2025)
Manuscript
Review of «Solving dense shelf water cascading with a high-resolution ocean reanalysis» by Hos et al.
The authors investigated the dense shelf water cascading (DSWC) process at two submarine canyons in the Gulf of Lion (northwestern Mediterranean Sea). The aim of the study is to evaluate the performance of the reanalysis in representing the DSWC. To achieve this goal, the authors compare the reanalysis data with in-situ observations from two moorings over the period 1993-2021 for Lacaze-Duthiers Canyon and 2011-2021 for Cape de Creus Canyon. From the results, they conclude that the MedSea reanalysis is able to successfully reproduce the interannual variability of the DSWC, although the timing and intensity of the phenomena are biased at the daily scale.
I found the topic interesting because the reanlysis performance in deep layers has not been thoroughly evaluated for the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, testing reanlysis skills in representing an oceanic proccess such as the DSWC is a good excersise. The manuscript is generally well written and the results are relevant to the scientific community, especially the Mediterranean community. However, I found some points that should be improved before its publication in OS.
1) Abstract : I find the statement "...can be used to find other unreported cascading events elsewhere" somewhat problematic. While the approach is compelling, it's important to note that the reanalysis product used in this study is specifically designed for the Mediterranean. This does not necessarily imply that other reanalysis products (e.g. global) would perform equally well in capturing cascading processes in different regions. In addition, it may be premature to extend the conclusions to other cascading areas within the Mediterranean basin, such as the Adriatic or Aegean Seas, given the different water mass characteristics and potentially different local dynamics in these regions. It would be helpful to evaluate reanalysis performance in these areas before making broader generalizations. Please rephrase.
2) Introduction: Since the manuscript was previously submitted to another journal with strict space limitations, I understand why the introduction may have been kept concise. However, Ocean Science does not have such constraints, and I found the current introduction somewhat brief and missing some important background information. I would recommend that the authors provide a more detailed description of the state-of-the-art, including the criteria (e.g., temperature, salinity, potential density, current velocity) used in previous studies to characterize DWSC in the Gulf of Lions, as well as a more thorough geographical description of the study area. I also strongly recommend including references when referring to water mass characteristics (e.g., LIW, WMDW) and their typical depths in the water column. I suggest more clearly highlighting the novelty of this work in comparison to previous studies. Finally, a short paragraph at the end of the section introducing the content of the next section might also be nice.
3) Data and Methods: I suggest to include a small table summarizing the main information related to the reanalysis data and those related to the measurements from in situ observations. This would help the reader to easily follow the methods section. L68-71: It is not clear to me whether the criteria used to define DSWC events come from observations or from reanalysis. This should be clarified. Are you defining DSWC events from in-situ observations or are you moving to values (model reality) where reanalysis successfully reproduces DSWC?
4) Results: In general, I found this section to be very descriptive, I would recommend the authors to go a little bit more in depth in the analysis in order to provide answers to the open questions (such as, what mechanisms might be involved ?).
- L84: Why is 2019 not considered a DSWC event? It seems clear from the observations that there was an event in the CCC in 2019. However, this event is not captured by the reanalysis.
-L87: ‘Events tend to occur in paired years, where the second year is weaker and usually hardly detectable in the LDC.’. Any explanation for why DSWC occurs in paired years? Why is it more difficult to detect in LDC than in CCC?
-Figure 2: Please use the same ranges on the y-axis to make LDC and CCC easy to compare. Avoid using acronyms in the caption (figure captions should be understandable to the reader without having to read the entire manuscript).
-Figure 3: Why is the year 2018 missing in 3j?
- L123: Here, after finishing the analysis of Figure 3, you come back to the analysis of Figure 2e, which seems a bit strange. Please reorganize. These volumes are calculated for waters σθ ≥ 29.05 kg/m³? Clarify in the caption of Figure 2.
5) Discussion: Have you identified any EMT signals in the reanlysis that prevent deep cascading from 1988 to 1998?
6) Conclusions : As I noted in the abstract, I would caution against generalization of conclusions without detailed analysis in other regions. In this section I would suggest to highlight the biased performance of reanalysis at the daily scale and the main deficiencies found. In this way you can provide some perspectives to suggest improvements to the reanalysis developers.
Minor remarks:
-L13: As I understood through the manuscript, the monitoring of Cape de Creus started in 2005/2006 for winters and then permanently from 2011, not from 2003 as stated.
-L27: you may want to include the common names for these dry and cold northerly winds (Mistral and Tramontana).
L35: basin floor → bottom
-L38-40: Any study under CMIP5 or CMIP6 scenario projections?
-L50: (CMEMS, https://marine.copernicus.eu/)
-L60: from 1987 to 2021→ the reanalysis provides data until 05/31/2023, but you focus your analysis on 1987-2021.
-L88: significant ‘anti-correlation’ → ‘negative correlation’
- L95: ‘temperature minma at CCC’ → and LDZ isn’t it?
-L96: (Sv; 1 Sv = 106 m³/s) → (Sv; 1 Sv = 106 m³/s). Please revise the use of superscripts throughout the manuscript.