diff --git a/src/MNH/ini_modeln.f90 b/src/MNH/ini_modeln.f90
index cc4ad570ca95d63a59bfe20dc5c43ed23a1cab87..fffa848fcba7aabba60801dd6635f48c6b777c71 100644
--- a/src/MNH/ini_modeln.f90
+++ b/src/MNH/ini_modeln.f90
@@ -364,7 +364,6 @@ USE MODD_GRID_n
 USE MODD_GRID,              only: XLONORI,XLATORI
 USE MODD_IBM_PARAM_n,       only: LIBM, XIBM_IEPS, XIBM_LS, XIBM_XMUT
 USE MODD_IO,                only: CIO_DIR, NFILE_NUM_MAX, TFILEDATA, TFILE_DUMMY
-USE MODD_IO_SURF_MNH,       only: IO_SURF_MNH_MODEL
 USE MODD_LATZ_EDFLX
 USE MODD_LBC_n,             only: CLBCX, CLBCY
 use modd_les
@@ -1896,12 +1895,10 @@ IF (KMI == 1) THEN
   DO IMI = 1, NMODEL
     IF ( NMODELNUMLGTMAX == 1 ) THEN
       IF ( NMODEL > 9 ) CALL PRINT_MSG( NVERB_FATAL, 'GEN', 'INI_MODEL_n', 'NMODEL>9 and NMODELNUMLGTMAX=1' )
-      WRITE( IO_SURF_MNH_MODEL(IMI)%COUTFILE, '( A, ".", I1, ".", A) ' ) TRIM(CEXP), IMI, TRIM(ADJUSTL(CSEG))
-      WRITE( YNAME,                           '( A, ".", I1, ".", A )' ) TRIM(CEXP), IMI, TRIM(ADJUSTL(CSEG)) // '.' // TRIM(YNUM)
+      WRITE( YNAME, '( A, ".", I1, ".", A )' ) TRIM(CEXP), IMI, TRIM(ADJUSTL(CSEG)) // '.' // TRIM(YNUM)
     ELSE IF ( NMODELNUMLGTMAX == 2 ) THEN
       IF ( NMODEL > 99 ) CALL PRINT_MSG( NVERB_FATAL, 'GEN', 'INI_MODEL_n', 'NMODEL>99 and NMODELNUMLGTMAX=2' )
-      WRITE( IO_SURF_MNH_MODEL(IMI)%COUTFILE, '( A, ".", I2.2, ".", A) ' ) TRIM(CEXP), IMI, TRIM(ADJUSTL(CSEG))
-      WRITE( YNAME,                           '( A, ".", I2.2, ".", A )' ) TRIM(CEXP), IMI, TRIM(ADJUSTL(CSEG)) // '.' // TRIM(YNUM)
+      WRITE( YNAME, '( A, ".", I2.2, ".", A )' ) TRIM(CEXP), IMI, TRIM(ADJUSTL(CSEG)) // '.' // TRIM(YNUM)
     ELSE
       CALL PRINT_MSG( NVERB_FATAL, 'GEN', 'INI_MODEL_n', 'NMODELNUMLGTMAX>2 not implemented' )
     END IF
diff --git a/src/MNH/mnhend_io_surfn.f90 b/src/MNH/mnhend_io_surfn.f90
index 2836f7870c1ea928f04afce1a7daf0f893a41fef..e8ff587fea7b8ffb91b27ebad4f5010692677d86 100644
--- a/src/MNH/mnhend_io_surfn.f90
+++ b/src/MNH/mnhend_io_surfn.f90
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!MNH_LIC Copyright 2003-2023 CNRS, Meteo-France and Universite Paul Sabatier
+!MNH_LIC Copyright 2003-2024 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.
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ END MODULE MODI_MNHEND_IO_SURF_n
 !*       0.    DECLARATIONS
 !              ------------
 !
-USE MODD_IO_SURF_MNH, ONLY : CACTION, TPINFILE, COUTFILE, NMASK, NMASK_ALL
+USE MODD_IO_SURF_MNH, ONLY : CACTION, TPINFILE, NMASK, NMASK_ALL
 !
 USE MODE_ll
 !
@@ -72,7 +72,6 @@ INTEGER           :: IRESP          ! return-code if a problem appears
 !
 CACTION='     '
 !
-COUTFILE = ''
 TPINFILE => NULL()
 !
 DEALLOCATE(NMASK)
diff --git a/src/MNH/mnhinit_io_surfn.f90 b/src/MNH/mnhinit_io_surfn.f90
index 16fda802414bcd970cd66913b04d53b2dee2aa71..99d0b9d6ee95b9a08f2f296f90386e9a773e0e47 100644
--- a/src/MNH/mnhinit_io_surfn.f90
+++ b/src/MNH/mnhinit_io_surfn.f90
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!MNH_LIC Copyright 2003-2019 CNRS, Meteo-France and Universite Paul Sabatier
+!MNH_LIC Copyright 2003-2024 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.
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ END MODULE MODI_MNHINIT_IO_SURF_n
 !
 USE MODD_CONF,             ONLY: CPROGRAM
 USE MODD_DIM_n,            ONLY: NIMAX_ll, NJMAX_ll
-USE MODD_IO_SURF_MNH,      ONLY: TOUT, TPINFILE, COUTFILE,                             &
+USE MODD_IO_SURF_MNH,      ONLY: TOUT, TPINFILE,                                       &
                                  NMASK, CMASK, NIU, NJU, NIB, NJB, NIE, NJE, CACTION,  &
                                  NMASK_ALL, NIU_ALL, NJU_ALL, NIB_ALL, NJB_ALL,        &
                                  NIE_ALL, NJE_ALL, NHALO
@@ -116,12 +116,6 @@ IF (HACTION=='READ ') THEN
     CASE('REAL  ','IDEAL ','NESPGD','SPAWN ','ZOOMPG')
       TPINFILE => TPGDFILE
   END SELECT
-ELSE IF (HACTION=='WRITE') THEN
-  IF (ASSOCIATED(TOUTDATAFILE)) THEN
-    COUTFILE = TOUTDATAFILE%CNAME
-  ELSE
-    COUTFILE = ''
-  END IF
 END IF
 !
 !*       3.    initialisation of 2D arrays
diff --git a/src/MNH/mnhopen_aux_io_surf.f90 b/src/MNH/mnhopen_aux_io_surf.f90
index a2da1c4131d338c5f0c46cff116f82359d188a4b..dbb560a080ff2eaa01997b48388b01fa370dbec0 100644
--- a/src/MNH/mnhopen_aux_io_surf.f90
+++ b/src/MNH/mnhopen_aux_io_surf.f90
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!MNH_LIC Copyright 2003-2023 CNRS, Meteo-France and Universite Paul Sabatier
+!MNH_LIC Copyright 2003-2024 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.
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ END MODULE MODI_MNHOPEN_AUX_IO_SURF
 !
 !
 USE MODD_CONF,             ONLY: CPROGRAM
-USE MODD_IO_SURF_MNH,      ONLY: TOUT, TPINFILE, COUTFILE, NMASK_ALL, CMASK, NIU_ALL,  &
+USE MODD_IO_SURF_MNH,      ONLY: TOUT, TPINFILE, NMASK_ALL, CMASK, NIU_ALL,            &
                                  NJU_ALL, NIB_ALL, NJB_ALL, NIE_ALL, NJE_ALL, CACTION, &
                                  NMASK, NIU, NJU, NIB, NJB, NIE, NJE
 USE MODD_LUNIT,            ONLY: TPGDFILE, TLUOUT0, TOUTDATAFILE
@@ -155,8 +155,6 @@ ELSE
   CALL IO_File_find_byname(TRIM(HFILE),TPINFILE,IRESP)
 END IF
 !
-COUTFILE = HFILE
-!
 !
 !*       3.    initialisation of 2D arrays for entire physical field
 !
diff --git a/src/MNH/modd_io_surf_mnh.f90 b/src/MNH/modd_io_surf_mnh.f90
index dbe471a5ff7d885b87a42dd8dc0f49adf63681ad..edb9bcb59f5874d605b19e074d32948151b084c5 100644
--- a/src/MNH/modd_io_surf_mnh.f90
+++ b/src/MNH/modd_io_surf_mnh.f90
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!MNH_LIC Copyright 1994-2019 CNRS, Meteo-France and Universite Paul Sabatier
+!MNH_LIC Copyright 1994-2024 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.
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ INTEGER                              :: NHALO = 0
 
 TYPE IO_SURF_MNH_t
   TYPE(TFILEDATA),POINTER        :: TPINFILE => NULL() ! Input FM-file
-  CHARACTER(LEN=NFILENAMELGTMAX) :: COUTFILE    ! Name of the output FM-file
   TYPE(TFILEDATA),POINTER        :: TOUT => NULL() ! Output_listing file
   CHARACTER(LEN=6)               :: CMASK
   INTEGER, DIMENSION(:), POINTER :: NMASK=>NULL()     ! 1D mask to read only interesting surface
@@ -65,7 +64,6 @@ TYPE(IO_SURF_MNH_t), DIMENSION(JPMODELMAX), TARGET, SAVE :: IO_SURF_MNH_MODEL
 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOCAL VARIABLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 !
 TYPE(TFILEDATA)       ,POINTER :: TPINFILE => NULL()  ! Input FM-file
-CHARACTER(LEN=NFILENAMELGTMAX), POINTER :: COUTFILE =>NULL()   ! Name of the output FM-file
 TYPE(TFILEDATA)       ,POINTER :: TOUT => NULL()      ! Output_listing file
 CHARACTER(LEN=6)      ,POINTER :: CMASK =>NULL()
 INTEGER, DIMENSION(:), POINTER :: NMASK=>NULL()     ! 1D mask to read only interesting surface
@@ -93,7 +91,6 @@ IO_SURF_MNH_MODEL(KFROM)%NMASK_ALL=>NMASK_ALL
 
 ! current model is set for model KTO 
 TPINFILE=>IO_SURF_MNH_MODEL(KTO)%TPINFILE
-COUTFILE=>IO_SURF_MNH_MODEL(KTO)%COUTFILE
 TOUT=>IO_SURF_MNH_MODEL(KTO)%TOUT
 CMASK=>IO_SURF_MNH_MODEL(KTO)%CMASK
 NMASK=>IO_SURF_MNH_MODEL(KTO)%NMASK
diff --git a/src/MNH/prep_surf_mnh.f90 b/src/MNH/prep_surf_mnh.f90
index 7618a63106935fc36f156b516358eba000510662..c6d9fb94afe19401a1b3917453d381ef03183d82 100644
--- a/src/MNH/prep_surf_mnh.f90
+++ b/src/MNH/prep_surf_mnh.f90
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!MNH_LIC Copyright 2004-2023 CNRS, Meteo-France and Universite Paul Sabatier
+!MNH_LIC Copyright 2004-2024 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.
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ END MODULE MODI_PREP_SURF_MNH
 !!  Philippe Wautelet: 05/2016-04/2018: new data structures and calls for I/O
 !------------------------------------------------------------------
 !
-USE MODD_IO_SURF_MNH, ONLY : COUTFILE
 USE MODD_LUNIT,       ONLY : TLUOUT0, TOUTDATAFILE
 USE MODD_LUNIT_n,     ONLY : CINIFILE, TINIFILE
 USE MODD_MNH_SURFEX_n
@@ -88,7 +87,6 @@ WRITE(ILUOUT0,*) '***************** EXTERNALIZED SURFACE ************'
 WRITE(ILUOUT0,*) '***************************************************'
 !
 !
-COUTFILE   = CINIFILE
 TOUTDATAFILE => TINIFILE
 !
 YATMFILETYPE = HATMFILETYPE
diff --git a/src/MNH/spawn_surf.f90 b/src/MNH/spawn_surf.f90
index 96db05fed052e3c2ea02f4fe97e3e9addd7285ae..db71ccf5921c5ac8236faed7cc599b4032f70f85 100644
--- a/src/MNH/spawn_surf.f90
+++ b/src/MNH/spawn_surf.f90
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!MNH_LIC Copyright 2004-2020 CNRS, Meteo-France and Universite Paul Sabatier
+!MNH_LIC Copyright 2004-2024 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.
@@ -76,10 +76,8 @@ END MODULE MODI_SPAWN_SURF
 USE MODD_CONF,         ONLY : NVERB
 USE MODD_GRID_n,       ONLY : XZS
 USE MODD_IO,           ONLY : TFILEDATA
-USE MODD_IO_SURF_MNH,  ONLY : COUTFILE
 USE MODD_LUNIT,        ONLY : TPGDFILE, TOUTDATAFILE
 USE MODD_MNH_SURFEX_n
-USE MODD_NESTING,      ONLY : CMY_NAME
 USE MODD_PARAMETERS,   ONLY : NFILENAMELGTMAX
 USE MODD_PARAM_n,      ONLY : CSURF
 USE MODD_TIME_n,       ONLY : TDTCUR
@@ -121,7 +119,6 @@ IF (CSURF=='EXTE') THEN
   IF (OSPAWN_SURF) THEN
     TPGDFILE     => TPOUTDATAFILE !Corresponding to file with CNAME = CMY_NAME(2)
     TOUTDATAFILE => TPOUTDATAFILE !Corresponding to file with CNAME = CMY_NAME(2)
-    COUTFILE   = CMY_NAME(2)
     !* spawn PGD fields
     CALL GOTO_SURFEX(1)
     !JUAN REALZ