Dear Dr. Scott, dear co-authors,

First of all, thank you for submitting the results of your work for publication in Annales Geophysicae anf for your detailed answers to the referees’ comments. After carefully reading the manuscript, the recommendations and comments of the referees, as well as your answers, I would like to inform you that your article currently requires a major revision.
Please consider the referees' recommendations very carefully and submit the revised manuscript with indication of implemented changes. One more reviewer and me will read the modified article once again.
Kindest regards

Yours sincerely
D. Buresova

Dear Dr. Scott, dear co-authors,

As you already know, we have got the additional review of your revised manuscript. I am glad to say, that the review is favorable for you. The status of your article has now changed and requires only a minor revision. Please consider the referee's comments given below and make the appropriate changes in your manuscript.
After making adjustments, send us the article back.
Kindest regards

Yours sincerely
D. Buresova

Referee's comments

This paper revisited a technique that deduces thermospheric composition from ionospheric data, as the ionospheric profile in the transition region between F1 and F2 peaks depends on ion production rate and loss rates via ion-atom interchange reactions and dissociative recombination of molecular ions. However, their results show that a linear relationship between √G and the molecular/atomic composition ratio, with a gradient of 2.55 ±0.40; however this gradient became to be 4.75 ± 0.4 as hmF1 is used. Supposedly, besides neutral temperature, the dynamic effect also could contribute to the formation of this transition region. The authors should discuss this issue.