Andrew- in regards to the referee's suggestion to change km to km2 in reference to the AIRS footprint size. The footprint would obviously have the same units as area (km2) since it's a 2-D shape. I think the AIRS document is referring to the approximate diameter of the footprint. So at nadir, the footprint is nearly circular with a diameter of approximately 13.5 km (r=6.75km). But the spatial extent of the footprint would have units of area (km2, i.e. pi*r^2 for a circle). At the scan extremes the circular footprint becomes more elongated like an elipse with diameters d1 & d2 of approximately 41 km (r1=20.5km) along the long dimension of the elipse and 21.4 km (r2=10.7km) along the shorter dimension. But the overall spatial extent of the footprint has units of area (km2, i.e. pi*r1*r2). Even though the AIRS document explicitly states 41 x 21.4 km, both dimensions have length units- right? So it more correctly should read 41 km x 21.4 km- but it is not rectangular, more of an elipse. Does this make sense? So please address this very minor issue and then submit the manuscript for final publication. Good job!