Comments on “Sensitivity studies of nighttime TOA radiances from artificial light sources using a 3-D radiative transfer model for nighttime aerosol retrievals” by Zhang et al.

The article by Zhang et al. investigates the impact of various parameters on nighttime satellite aerosol retrievals using surface artificial light emission sources and a 3-D radiative transfer model, following their earlier work, Zhang et al., 2008. The draft reads technically sound with good analysis and its context is logically organized. The introduction also provides enough background for readers and cites necessary previous works. Therefore, I recommend publishing after addressing some minor comments:

L54, can you provide a few more words to explain what is “retrieval-filled value issue”?

L93, since the spatial resolution is highly variable as mentioned here, does this paper discuss the impact of the spatial resolution on nighttime retrievals in the later context?  

L160, what is the distance threshold for choosing the pairs?

Figure 1 caption, add space between “showing” and “sources”. I feel this figure can be improved. I don’t see the “sensor” or satellite on this figure. Is it helpful to label come concepts such as VZA in the figure?

L372, how many AERONET sites for their data are involved in this study?

I feel the following article is relevant and should be cited. Cavazzani, S., Ortolani, S., Bertolo, A., Binotto, R., Fiorentin, P., Carraro, G., & Zitelli, V. (2020). Satellite measurements of artificial light at night: Aerosol effects. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 499(4), 5075-5089.