'Global and terrestrial precipitation: a comparative assessment of exisitng climatologies': a reply

In his comment on my paper, Whetton argues that precipitation estimates for the Southern Ocean (high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere) in the Legates and Willmott climatology are implausible owing to its large seasonality. Justification for this assertion includes comparisons with island observations and methodological limitations he feels exist in the Legates and Willmott climatology. In this reply, the methodology used by Legates and Willmott is examined carefully and Whetton's concerns about it are shown to be his misinterpretation of theintent of the air temperature correction. Our (Whetton's and my) arguments serve to illustrate that observational evidence of precipitation over the ocean expanse of the Southern Hemisphere is a major limiting factor of all observation-based climatologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]