Sea-level changes in the southern North Sea region: a response to Bungenstock and Weerts (2010)

The article highlights the difficulties connected with getting secure fixed-points for sea-level curve construction and emphasises the care that should be taken with data interpretation. As such, it is a welcome contribution to this important topic. On the other hand, the paper has, in my opinion, several weaknesses. It not only disregards a large body of reliable and highly relevant information on sea-level changes available from investigations carried out using a variety of methodologies, but also makes assumptions that seem to be based, to varying degrees, on misconceptions and misunderstandings. Many of these misunderstandings might have been avoided had the discussions, that are referred to in the Acknowledgements, actually taken place. I wish to take this opportunity to set the record straight by stating that no such discussions took place.