This manuscript provides a detailed overview of aerosol and cloud products to be expected from the upcoming EarthCARE mission. In documenting the basic steps of processing of the data from the ATLID instrument it will be a very valuable source of information for users of the resulting products.

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are recognized as significant contributors to extreme precipitation at mid-latitudes and may increase in frequency and intensity due to climate change. This timely study is the first the show the potential value of GNSS radio occultation (GNSS RO) remote sensing to the study of ARs and in particular how the high vertical resolution of GNSS RO provides information that is complementary to other techniques. The combination of GNSS-RO data with mesoscale models, particularly through assimilation, could further improve our understanding of AR dynamics and the processes leading to extreme precipitation and flooding. This is an important direction for future studies.