Index: /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/applyoptions.py
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/applyoptions.py	(revision 17918)
+++ /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/applyoptions.py	(revision 17919)
@@ -107,4 +107,8 @@
 
 	#xticklabels,yticklabels,zticklabels {{{
+	if options.getfieldvalue('ticklabels','off')=='off' or options.getfieldvalue('ticklabels',0)==0:
+		options.addfielddefault('xticklabels',[])
+		options.addfielddefault('yticklabels',[])
+		# TODO check if ax has a z-axis (e.g. is 3D)
 	if options.exist('xticklabels'):
 		xticklabels=options.getfieldvalue('xticklabels')
Index: /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/plotmodel.py
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/plotmodel.py	(revision 17918)
+++ /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/plotmodel.py	(revision 17919)
@@ -54,5 +54,5 @@
 	if numberofplots:
 		
-		if not hold: # TODO need to also check whether figurenumber is a new plot so that old plots are not mistakenly cleared
+		if plt.fignum_exists(figurenumber): 
 			plt.cla()