diff --git a/src/MNH/write_surf_mnh.f90 b/src/MNH/write_surf_mnh.f90
index 90c856c9487f6d529a733f23ee7a0acbf3c5a52b..30b46a66ca64063d5061b49bebf99d63bcdd751b 100644
--- a/src/MNH/write_surf_mnh.f90
+++ b/src/MNH/write_surf_mnh.f90
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!MNH_LIC Copyright 1997-2023 CNRS, Meteo-France and Universite Paul Sabatier
+!MNH_LIC Copyright 1997-2024 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.
@@ -1450,7 +1450,6 @@ USE MODD_IO,             ONLY: TFILE_SURFEX
 USE MODD_TYPE_DATE
 
 use MODE_IO_FIELD_WRITE, only: IO_Field_write
-USE MODE_IO_FILE
 USE MODE_MSG
 USE MODE_WRITE_SURF_MNH_TOOLS
 
@@ -1539,84 +1538,48 @@ END SUBROUTINE WRITE_SURFT0_MNH
 !*      0.    DECLARATIONS
 !             ------------
 !
-use modd_field,          only: tfieldmetadata, TYPEINT, TYPEREAL
+use modd_field,          only: tfieldmetadata, TYPEDATE
 USE MODD_IO,             ONLY: TFILE_SURFEX
-USE MODD_CONF_n,         ONLY: CSTORAGE_TYPE
+USE MODD_TYPE_DATE
 
 use MODE_IO_FIELD_WRITE, only: IO_Field_write
-USE MODE_IO_FILE
 USE MODE_MSG
+USE MODE_WRITE_SURF_MNH_TOOLS
 
 IMPLICIT NONE
 !
 !*      0.1   Declarations of arguments
 !
-CHARACTER(LEN=MNH_LEN_HREC),  INTENT(IN) :: HREC     ! name of the article to be written
-INTEGER,            INTENT(IN) :: KL1       ! number of points
-INTEGER, DIMENSION(KL1), INTENT(IN)  :: KYEAR    ! year
-INTEGER, DIMENSION(KL1), INTENT(IN)  :: KMONTH   ! month
-INTEGER, DIMENSION(KL1), INTENT(IN)  :: KDAY     ! day
-REAL,    DIMENSION(KL1), INTENT(IN)  :: PTIME    ! time
-INTEGER,            INTENT(OUT) :: KRESP    ! KRESP  : return-code if a problem appears
-CHARACTER(LEN=100), INTENT(IN)  :: HCOMMENT ! Comment string
+CHARACTER(LEN=MNH_LEN_HREC),  INTENT(IN)  :: HREC     ! name of the article to be written
+INTEGER,                      INTENT(IN)  :: KL1      ! number of points
+INTEGER, DIMENSION(KL1),      INTENT(IN)  :: KYEAR    ! year
+INTEGER, DIMENSION(KL1),      INTENT(IN)  :: KMONTH   ! month
+INTEGER, DIMENSION(KL1),      INTENT(IN)  :: KDAY     ! day
+REAL,    DIMENSION(KL1),      INTENT(IN)  :: PTIME    ! time
+INTEGER,                      INTENT(OUT) :: KRESP    ! KRESP  : return-code if a problem appears
+CHARACTER(LEN=100),           INTENT(IN)  :: HCOMMENT ! Comment string
 
 !*      0.2   Declarations of local variables
 !
 !
-CHARACTER(LEN=5)          :: YMSG
-INTEGER, DIMENSION(3,KL1) :: ITDATE
-TYPE(TFIELDMETADATA)      :: TZFIELD
+CHARACTER(LEN=5)                  :: YMSG
+TYPE (DATE_TIME), DIMENSION(KL1)  :: TZDATA
+TYPE(TFIELDMETADATA)              :: TZFIELD
 !-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 !
 CALL PRINT_MSG(NVERB_DEBUG,'IO','WRITE_SURFT1_MNH',TRIM(TFILE_SURFEX%CNAME)//': writing '//TRIM(HREC))
 !
-IF( HREC=='DTCUR' .AND. CSTORAGE_TYPE/='SU' ) THEN
-  CALL PRINT_MSG(NVERB_DEBUG,'IO','WRITE_SURFT1_MNH',TRIM(HREC)//' not written in file by externalized surface')
-  RETURN
-ELSE
-  !
-  ITDATE(1,:) = KYEAR  (:)
-  ITDATE(2,:) = KMONTH (:)
-  ITDATE(3,:) = KDAY   (:)
-  !
-  TZFIELD = TFIELDMETADATA(            &
-    CMNHNAME   = TRIM(HREC)//'%TDATE', &
-    CSTDNAME   = '',                   &
-    CLONGNAME  = TRIM(HREC)//'%TDATE', &
-    CUNITS     = '',                   &
-    CDIR       = '--',                 &
-    CCOMMENT   = TRIM(HCOMMENT),       &
-    NGRID      = 0,                    &
-    NTYPE      = TYPEINT,              &
-    NDIMS      = 2,                    &
-    LTIMEDEP   = .FALSE.               )
-  !
-  CALL IO_Field_write(TFILE_SURFEX,TZFIELD,ITDATE(:,:),KRESP)
-  !
-  IF (KRESP /=0) THEN
-    WRITE ( YMSG, '( I5 )' ) KRESP
-    CALL PRINT_MSG(NVERB_ERROR,'IO','WRITE_SURFT1_MNH','error when writing article '//TRIM(HREC)//' KRESP='//YMSG)
-  END IF
-  !
-  TZFIELD = TFIELDMETADATA(            &
-    CMNHNAME   = TRIM(HREC)//'%xtime', &
-    CSTDNAME   = '',                   &
-    CLONGNAME  = TRIM(HREC)//'%xtime', &
-    CUNITS     = '',                   &
-    CDIR       = '--',                 &
-    CCOMMENT   = TRIM(HCOMMENT),       &
-    NGRID      = 0,                    &
-    NTYPE      = TYPEREAL,             &
-    NDIMS      = 1,                    &
-    LTIMEDEP   = .FALSE.               )
-  !
-  CALL IO_Field_write(TFILE_SURFEX,TZFIELD,PTIME(:),KRESP)
+TZDATA(:)%nyear  = kyear(:)
+TZDATA(:)%nmonth = kmonth(:)
+TZDATA(:)%nday   = kday(:)
+TZDATA(:)%xtime  = PTIME(:)
 !
-  IF (KRESP /=0) THEN
-    WRITE ( YMSG, '( I5 )' ) KRESP
-    CALL PRINT_MSG(NVERB_ERROR,'IO','WRITE_SURFT1_MNH','error when writing article '//TRIM(HREC)//' KRESP='//YMSG)
-  END IF
+CALL PREPARE_METADATA_WRITE_SURF( HREC, '--', HCOMMENT, 0, TYPEDATE, 1, 'WRITE_SURFT1_MNH', TZFIELD )
+CALL IO_Field_write( TFILE_SURFEX, TZFIELD, TZDATA, KRESP )
 !
+IF ( KRESP /=0 ) THEN
+  WRITE ( YMSG, '( I5 )' ) KRESP
+  CALL PRINT_MSG( NVERB_ERROR, 'IO', 'WRITE_SURFT1_MNH', 'error when writing article ' // TRIM(HREC) // ' KRESP=' // YMSG )
 END IF
 !
 END SUBROUTINE WRITE_SURFT1_MNH