Reply to the Comments by Marko and Fissel on the Paper "On the Deterioration of Icebergs in the Marginal Ice Zone" by Venkatesh et al. (1994).

The article presents a reply by S. Venkatesh and colleagues to comments made by J. R. Marko and D. B. Fissel about their study, On the Deterioration of Icebergs in the Marginal Ice Zone. According to Venkatesh and colleagues, Marko and Fissel point to the many difficulties and expense in obtaining the necessary data to predict the deterioration of icebergs in an operational time setting. They pointed out that they are confident of the calculated deterioration rates. They said that while the calved iceberg fragments under the existing environmental conditions constitute only 2 to 3% of the original masses, the deterioration rates will increase with increasing water temperatures and sea state conditions.