In their comment on our Eos article <Scharroo et al., 2005>, Sun et al. conclude that sea surface temperature (SST) had a significant impact on the rapid intensification of Hurricane Katrina. Although SST may have played some role, we want to stress that dynamic topography is a more reliable proxy than SST for upper ocean heat content, which is ultimately responsible for the cyclone's intensification. As evidence of the impact of SST on sea level pressure (SLP), Sun et al. present the outcome of model simulations in which the SST over the Gulf of Mexico was raised by as much as 2¿C. After a two-day lag, this comparatively large increase in SST caused SLP to decrease by a mere 10 millibar. However, since the SST along Katrina's track across the Gulf of Mexico varied by no more than 1¿C, whereas the SLP dropped by about 90 millibar (Figure 1), their results actually indicate that the impact of SST on the hurricane intensification was neither rapid nor significant. Moreover, the perceived correlation between SST and SLP was very weak.