Dear authors,
Most of the issues raised in the open discussions are well addressed in your revision. And the paper reads much better after the language editing. There are some minor issues and technical errors in the revised paper. Please revise your paper further according to following referee's suggestions and prepare a new response.
Xiaobin Xu

Report #1
The manuscript is considerably improved relative to the first submission, but still requires modifications before publication in ACP. One of the more notable improvements is the extension of MODIS albedo analysis to 2012, which results in an even larger trend than the original analysis that extended to 2010. Grammar and clarity in the body of the manuscript are substantially improved, though the abstract still needs to be improved. A general concern is that the manuscript still seems to explore two disparate themes, both of which are important, but neither of which are covered in great detail in this paper. These themes are: 1) the decrease in albedo of the glacier between 2000 and 2012, as observed with MODIS, and the correlation of this albedo with mass balance; and 2) concentrations of black carbon and dust on the glacier measured during 2012, and the associated impacts of these impurities on albedo and radiative forcing. Assuming the paper continues with these two important (but not well connected) themes, it would be nice to see a bit more discussion on 1) the implications of findings from these two separate components of the analysis, 2) how these components may or may not relate to each other (i.e., more discussion/speculation on possible causes of the decadal-scale albedo decline seen in MODIS), and 3) sources of uncertainty in both components of the analysis.

Other specific suggestions:

- Abstract: Carefully check the abstract again for grammar issues (e.g., "founded" -> "found"). Also, try to more clearly indicate that two separate themes were explored, so that readers do not become confused in trying to connect the two sets of findings.

- Rename the heading of section 3.1 to reflect something more precise than "21st century"

- Include a brief description of the mass balance measurements in the Methods section, since these form the basis of one of the paper's more important conclusions that albedo and mass balance are well-correlated.

- Make sure all references to the MODIS albedo analysis are changed from 2010 (the original end point) to 2012 (the new end point), e.g., in line 1 of Conclusions.


Report #2
Citation could be improved. For example, following relevant papers over Tibetan Plateau should be cited. Otherwise, I will suggest the paper to be accepted for publication in ACP.


Cao, J., X. Tie, B. Xu, Z. Zhao, C. Zhu, G. Li, and S. Liu (2010), Measuring and modeling black carbon (BC) contamination in the SE Tibetan Plateau, Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry, 67(1), 45-60, doi:10.1007/s10874-011-9202-5.

Kopacz, M., D. Mauzerall, J. Wang, E. Leibensperger, D. Henze, and K. Singh (2011), Origin and radiative forcing of black carbon transported to the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 11(6), 2837-2852, doi:10.5194/acp-11-2837-2011.

Lau, W., M. Kim, K. Kim, and W. Lee (2010), Enhanced surface warming and accelerated snow melt in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau induced by absorbing aerosols, Environmental Research Letters, 5(2), doi:10.1088/1748-9326/5/2/025204.

Qian, Y., M. Flanner, L. Leung, and W. Wang (2011), Sensitivity studies on the impacts of Tibetan Plateau snowpack pollution on the Asian hydrological cycle and monsoon climate, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 11(5), 1929-1948, doi:10.5194/acp-11-1929-2011.

Wang, M., B. Xu, J. Cao, X. Tie, H. Wang, R. Zhang, Y. Qian, P. J. Rasch, S. Zhao, G. Wu, H. Zhao, D. R. Joswiak, J. Li, and Y. Xie (2014b), Carbonaceous aerosols recorded in a Southeastern Tibetan glacier: variations, sources and radiative forcing, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 14, 19719-19746, doi:10.5194/acpd-14-19719-2014.

Xu, B., T. Yao, X. Liu, and N. Wang (2006), Elemental and organic carbon measurements with a two-step heating gas chromatography system in snow samples from the Tibetan Plateau, Ann. Glaciol., 43, 257–262, doi:10.3189/172756406781812122.

Dear authors,

Your manuscript is accepted for publication in ACP Special Issue: Study of ozone, aerosols and radiation over the Tibetan Plateau (SOAR-TP). Before uploading files for production, some technical corrections are necessary:

1) Line 12 in the Abstract: change "in" to "on"
2) Line 19 in the Abstract: change "increases" to "increase"
3) Line 58-60: change the sentence to "Whereas, the Zhadang glacier in the inner TP showed a mass balance of -1500 mm water equivalent in 2005-2006 (Zhou et al., 2007), experiencing much stronger melting than Himalayan glaciers. "
4) Line 61-63: change the sentence to "Neither the long-term variation of the glacier albedo of the Zhadang glacier, nor the impact of LACs on the albedo of this glacier has been previously studied."
5) Line 174: change "interpret" to "be the cause of"
6) Line 188: change "approximate" to "approximately"
7) Line 234: change "which is a lower than that" to "which is lower than that"

Xiaobin Xu