Interactive comment on “Composition and Vertical Flux of Particulate Organic Matter to the Oxygen Minimum Zone of the Central Baltic Sea: Impact of a sporadic North Sea inflow” by Carolina Cisternas-Novoa

significant contribution to understand the biogeochemical processes and its spatial variation in the Baltic Sea. However, the ms is difficult to read and to get a ‘take home massage’ because it contains many nonspecific verbalization. For example, it is often unclear which depth horizons are meant or why the situation at a certain depth is mentioned at this place (e.g. 110m in line 31). The influence of the MPI must be presented more clearly and substantiated. This requires comparison of a defined depth range which is oxygen rich in one basin and low in oxygen in the other. In the GB, the situation after MBI should be compared with a situation during a stagnation period, if possible. Many of these things are present in the ms but not clearly and focused demonstrated. I would expect from the title what is transported from the overlaying layers to the OMZ. Indeed, data for the whole water column of the GB and up to 200m in the LD are given without any Accentuations. Abstract: The objectives are not clear Line 17-18: “Oxygen (O2) depletion may improve the efficiency of the biological carbon pump“. Is this sentence the hypothesis of the work? If yes, than it has to be indicated and it needs to be answered at the end of the abstract. AR: We will add information to the abstract, about the oxygen conditions at each depth where we deployed a sediment trap in GB and LD (ex: oxygenated surface, the core of the oxygen minimum zone and deep water oxygenated by the inflow) to clarify why we mention specific depths. We explicitly add the hypothesis and rephrase the objectives for clarity. We answered the hypothesis at the end of the abstract when we expose the differences in POM and export between the two studied stations, and we propose a mechanism to explain those differences. Information about oxygen conditions at depths where sediment traps were deployed in each station was added in L22-25. We explicitly add the hypothesis to the abstract (L25-27) Line 20-21: I would replace “Major Baltic Inflow “by“ salt water inflow” here. AR: This was change to “a major oxygen-rich saltwater inflow” (L21) Line 24-32: It is difficult to understand what the comparison of the two depths means for the task. AR: This paragraph was modified for clarity and as mentioned above, the oxygen conditions at each depth are mentioned (ex: oxygenated surface, the core of the oxygen minimum zone and deep water oxygenated by the