My apologies for the delayed response, I thought I had submitted a response last week but some issue or another meant that the response did not go through the system.


Editors comment:
During the original Editor response I had asked for the authors to discuss the uncertainties that result from comparing the TCCON total column to the thermal IR based total column. I think this was implicitly addressed in the manuscript by using the MACC model but these uncertainties should be explicitly estimated. You could use the approach discussed in Rodgers and Connor 2003:
Rodgers, C. D. & Connor, B. J. Intercomparison of remote sounding instruments. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 108, 4116 (2003).


Also, please remove or modify this statement (Page 9 Line 14) “Here, both the ground-based and satellite observations show homogeneous methane retrieval sensitivity over all atmospheric altitudes, leading to highly accurate estimates of the total column of methane rather than a profile. “ as the statement is mis-leading. The TIR based estimates are primarily sensitive to the mid-troposphere to lower stratosphere methane and NOT the total column.