Au's,

I request a few minor enhancements in section 5 Conclusions:

(page.line)

15.9: define LZRH once again / define what is "missing"

15.12: define "crossover" once again, and in same paragraph, please summarize more clearly how trajectories originating between crossover and LZRH manage to reach the stratosphere, which if I understand correctly, is to maintain slow anticyclonic ascent outside the Tibetan plateau but within the anticyclone.

15.22: define AMA once again

15.22-23, 32; 16.19: terms regarding "confinement", "leaky circulation", "trapped", and "fragile confinement" are imprecise and/or in contradiction. The underlying issue is whether or to what extent the anticyclone is a Lagrangian coherent structure. [To my knowledge this issue has never been investigated thoroughly enough to understand horizontal exchange, e.g., via lobe dynamics. Eddy shedding is known to be important in this context. Also, the intraseasonal and interannual variations are potentially quite interesting.] Try to tighten up the terminology here as best you can.

Incidentally my first foray into this topic appeared in JGR-D 1995. A companion paper by Ping Chen investigated transport barriers in this context.

--TD