diff --git a/Inst_eddies/Tests/examine_eddy.f90 b/Inst_eddies/Tests/examine_eddy.f90
index 061624658dc97a985706fd1e0f34dc173e914656..6987e2512c1b3b87d7d37d18369af7d39cd68cb8 100644
--- a/Inst_eddies/Tests/examine_eddy.f90
+++ b/Inst_eddies/Tests/examine_eddy.f90
@@ -2,13 +2,13 @@ program examine_eddy
 
   ! Libraries:
   use contour_531, only: convert_to_ind
-  use jumble, only: get_command_arg_dyn, read_column, deg_to_rad, pi, &
-       rad_to_deg, twopi, new_unit
+  use jumble, only: get_command_arg_dyn, read_column, deg_to_rad, rad_to_deg, &
+       twopi, new_unit
   use shapelib, only: shpfileobject, shpclose
   use shapelib_03, only: dbf_read_attribute_03, dbf_get_field_index_03, &
        shp_read_point, shp_open_03
 
-  use config_m, only: config, min_radius
+  use config_m, only: config
   use cont_list_m, only: create_cont_list, close_cont_list
   use derived_types, only: snapshot, shpc_slice_handler, eddy
   use input_ssh_m, only: input_ssh, max_radius
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ program examine_eddy
   call set_contours(e%out_cont, e%speed_cont, e%max_speed, cyclone, e%extr, &
        e%innermost_level, step, ssh(llc(1):urc(1), llc(2):urc(2)), &
        u(llc(1):urc(1), llc(2):urc(2)), v(llc(1):urc(1), llc(2):urc(2)), &
-       corner_window, pi * (min_radius * 1e3)**2, outside_points)
+       corner_window, outside_points)
   call close_cont_list
   call shpc_create(hshpc, shpc_dir = "SHPC", cyclone = cyclone, slice = 0, &
        grid_lon_lat = .true.)
diff --git a/Inst_eddies/Tests/test_get_1_outerm.f90 b/Inst_eddies/Tests/test_get_1_outerm.f90
index 748d3282596a376f110285daede8126b7f0f766b..3c09899d690a6210824ad36bcc58a0e860b49df8 100644
--- a/Inst_eddies/Tests/test_get_1_outerm.f90
+++ b/Inst_eddies/Tests/test_get_1_outerm.f90
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 program test_get_1_outerm
 
   ! Libraries:
-  use jumble, only: csvread, deg_to_rad, rad_to_deg, pi
+  use jumble, only: csvread, deg_to_rad, rad_to_deg
   use shapelib, only: shpfileobject, ftdouble, shpt_polygon, shpclose
   use shapelib_03, only: shp_create_03, dbf_add_field_03, &
        shp_append_object_03, dbf_write_attribute_03
 
-  use config_m, only: config, min_radius
+  use config_m, only: config
   use derived_types, only: eddy, shpc_slice_handler, null_ssh_contour, &
        missing_speed, ssh_contour
   use get_1_outerm_m, only: get_1_outerm
@@ -82,8 +82,7 @@ program test_get_1_outerm
   e%extr%coord_proj = ind_targ_extr
   e%extr%coord = corner + (ind_targ_extr - 1) * step
   call get_1_outerm(e%out_cont, cont_list, n_cont, cyclone, e%extr%coord, &
-       innermost_level, outside_points, ssh, corner, step, &
-       min_area = pi * (min_radius * 1e3)**2)
+       innermost_level, outside_points, ssh, corner, step)
 
   if (e%out_cont%closed) then
      e%extr%ssh = ssh(ind_targ_extr(1), ind_targ_extr(2))
diff --git a/Inst_eddies/config.f90 b/Inst_eddies/config.f90
index f3147765ffe6f880409375fb9159df15563ce613..a6e93fb046fe9adb5955852ed1d5baa4b19a557e 100644
--- a/Inst_eddies/config.f90
+++ b/Inst_eddies/config.f90
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 module config_m
 
   use, intrinsic:: ISO_FORTRAN_ENV
+  use jumble, only: pi
 
   implicit none
 
@@ -13,8 +14,9 @@ module config_m
   ! degrees. Beware: run time is roughly proportional to
   ! product(max_radius_deg / step_deg). max_radius_deg(1) must be < 90.
 
-  real, protected:: min_radius = 25.
-  ! minimum radius of the equal-area disk for an outermost contour, in km
+  real, protected, save:: min_area ! minimum area of an outermost contour, in m2
+
+  private pi
 
 contains
 
@@ -24,8 +26,13 @@ contains
     use jumble, only: new_unit
 
     ! Local:
+
     logical exist
     integer unit, iostat
+
+    real:: min_radius = 25.
+    ! minimum radius of the equal-area disk for an outermost contour, in km
+
     namelist /config_nml/ min_amp, max_radius_deg, min_radius
     character(len = 1000) iomsg
 
@@ -59,6 +66,8 @@ contains
        close(unit)
     end if
 
+    min_area = pi * (min_radius * 1e3)**2
+
   end subroutine config
 
 end module config_m
diff --git a/Inst_eddies/get_1_outerm.f90 b/Inst_eddies/get_1_outerm.f90
index 8bfc4ed34ad3672c76c7a31b0ecd0445654e8eb7..273dd523cea38cded845733b1b62ee5b37940d15 100644
--- a/Inst_eddies/get_1_outerm.f90
+++ b/Inst_eddies/get_1_outerm.f90
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ module get_1_outerm_m
 contains
 
   subroutine get_1_outerm(out_cont, cont_list, n_cont, cyclone, coord_extr, &
-       innermost_level_2, outside_points, ssh, corner, step, min_area)
+       innermost_level_2, outside_points, ssh, corner, step)
 
     ! This procedure gets one outermost good contour with sufficient
     ! area, if it can find one. If the procedure cannot find an
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ contains
     use jumble, only: assert
 
     use ccw_orient_m, only: ccw_orient
+    use config_m, only: min_area
     use derived_types, only: ssh_contour, null_ssh_contour
     use good_contour_m, only: good_contour
     use spher_polyline_area_m, only: spher_polyline_area
@@ -82,9 +83,6 @@ contains
     real, intent(in):: step(:) ! (2)
     ! longitude and latitude steps, in rad
 
-    real, intent(in):: min_area
-    ! minimum area of an outermost contour, in m2
-
     ! Local:
     real level_try, level_good, level_bad ! in m
     real, parameter:: precision = 5e-4 ! in m
diff --git a/Inst_eddies/inst_eddies.f90 b/Inst_eddies/inst_eddies.f90
index 01eeae7af401c0740ddf26cd43fb20ca6d2c4508..2020cbf1a895e7325150c38befae78ccfe7ae8cb 100644
--- a/Inst_eddies/inst_eddies.f90
+++ b/Inst_eddies/inst_eddies.f90
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@ program inst_eddies
   use, intrinsic:: ISO_FORTRAN_ENV, only: ERROR_UNIT
 
   ! Libraries:
-  use jumble, only: assert, new_unit, pi, argwhere, twopi
+  use jumble, only: assert, new_unit, argwhere, twopi
   use numer_rec_95, only: indexx
 
-  use config_m, only: config, min_radius
+  use config_m, only: config
   use derived_types, only: snapshot, shpc_slice_handler
   use input_ssh_m, only: input_ssh, max_radius
   use nearby_extr_m, only: nearby_extr
@@ -54,8 +54,6 @@ program inst_eddies
   ! order of decreasing SSH, and second, maxima sorted in order of
   ! increasing SSH.
 
-  real min_area ! minimum area of an outermost contour, in m2
-
   integer, allocatable:: selection(:)
   ! identifying numbers of a selection of extrema
 
@@ -121,7 +119,6 @@ program inst_eddies
   call set_all_extr(s, step, periodic, ssh, corner)
 
   allocate(sorted_extr(s%number_extr))
-  min_area = pi * (min_radius * 1e3)**2
 
   forall (i = 1:s%number_extr)
      s%list(i)%out_cont%closed = .true.
@@ -177,7 +174,7 @@ program inst_eddies
           s%list(i)%max_speed, s%list(i)%cyclone, s%list(i)%extr, &
           s%list(i)%innermost_level, step, ssh(llc(1):urc(1), llc(2):urc(2)), &
           u(llc(1):urc(1), llc(2):urc(2)), v(llc(1):urc(1), llc(2):urc(2)), &
-          corner_window, min_area, outside_points)
+          corner_window, outside_points)
   end do
 
   call cpu_time(t1)
diff --git a/Inst_eddies/set_contours.f90 b/Inst_eddies/set_contours.f90
index 9520159133782215eb043cce6316a8adf5e0c8c8..b5ff9a01b240c21e8008575306094f7ba146cec3 100644
--- a/Inst_eddies/set_contours.f90
+++ b/Inst_eddies/set_contours.f90
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ module set_contours_m
 contains
 
   subroutine set_contours(out_cont, speed_cont, max_speed, cyclone, extr, &
-       innermost_level, step, ssh, u, v, corner, min_area, outside_points)
+       innermost_level, step, ssh, u, v, corner, outside_points)
 
     ! This procedure sets contours in an eddy.
 
@@ -44,8 +44,6 @@ contains
     real, intent(in):: corner(:) ! (2) longitude and latitude of the
     ! corner of the grid, in rad
 
-    real, intent(in):: min_area ! minimum area of an outermost contour, in m2
-
     real, intent(in):: outside_points(:, :) ! (2, :) longitude and
     ! latitude, in rad, of all the significant extrema, except the
     ! target extremum
@@ -83,7 +81,7 @@ contains
          innermost_level, abs(extr%ssh - innermost_level) < min_amp)
 
     call get_1_outerm(out_cont, cont_list, n_cont, cyclone, extr%coord, &
-         innermost_level_2, outside_points, ssh, corner, step, min_area)
+         innermost_level_2, outside_points, ssh, corner, step)
 
     ! Done with outermost contour, now let us take care of the
     ! max-speed contour.