diff --git a/src/LIB/SURCOUCHE/src/mode_field.f90 b/src/LIB/SURCOUCHE/src/mode_field.f90
index 082ab6328083801e8ddd309de81db5d265bb516e..041c3a85b1f926af62708756566e192c72a596ff 100644
--- a/src/LIB/SURCOUCHE/src/mode_field.f90
+++ b/src/LIB/SURCOUCHE/src/mode_field.f90
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!MNH_LIC Copyright 2016-2020 CNRS, Meteo-France and Universite Paul Sabatier
+!MNH_LIC Copyright 2016-2021 CNRS, Meteo-France and Universite Paul Sabatier
 !MNH_LIC This is part of the Meso-NH software governed by the CeCILL-C licence
 !MNH_LIC version 1. See LICENSE, CeCILL-C_V1-en.txt and CeCILL-C_V1-fr.txt
 !MNH_LIC for details. version 1.
@@ -4413,6 +4413,7 @@ IF (.NOT.ASSOCIATED(TFIELDLIST(IID)%TFIELD_C0D(KTO)%DATA)) THEN
   CALL PRINT_MSG(NVERB_DEBUG,'GEN','FIELDLIST_GOTO_MODEL',&
                  'TFIELDLIST(IID)%TFIELD_C0D(KTO)%DATA was not associated for '//TFIELDLIST(IID)%CMNHNAME)
   ALLOCATE(CHARACTER(LEN=4) :: TFIELDLIST(IID)%TFIELD_C0D(KTO)%DATA)
+  TFIELDLIST(IID)%TFIELD_C0D(KTO)%DATA=''
 END IF
 CSURF => TFIELDLIST(IID)%TFIELD_C0D(KTO)%DATA
 !