diff --git a/cicecore/cicedynB/dynamics/ice_dyn_evp.F90 b/cicecore/cicedynB/dynamics/ice_dyn_evp.F90
index 0c9e1126e..b63c503e6 100644
--- a/cicecore/cicedynB/dynamics/ice_dyn_evp.F90
+++ b/cicecore/cicedynB/dynamics/ice_dyn_evp.F90
@@ -205,6 +205,8 @@ subroutine evp (dt)
 
          allocate(zetax2T(nx_block,ny_block,max_blocks))
          allocate(etax2T(nx_block,ny_block,max_blocks))
+         zetax2T(:,:,:) = c0
+         etax2T (:,:,:) = c0
          
       endif