Index: /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/sampling.m
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/sampling.m	(revision 27418)
+++ /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/sampling.m	(revision 27419)
@@ -76,5 +76,4 @@
 				md = checkfield(md,'fieldname','sampling.beta','NaN',1,'Inf',1,'size',[md.mesh.numberofvertices 1],'>',0);
 			end
-			md = checkfield(md,'fieldname','sampling.phi','NaN',1,'Inf',1,'numel',1,'>=',0);
 			md = checkfield(md,'fieldname','sampling.alpha','NaN',1,'Inf',1,'numel',1,'>',0);
 			md = checkfield(md,'fieldname','sampling.seed','NaN',1,'Inf',1,'numel',1);
Index: /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/sampling.py
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/sampling.py	(revision 27418)
+++ /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/sampling.py	(revision 27419)
@@ -84,5 +84,4 @@
             md = checkfield(md, 'fieldname', 'sampling.beta', 'NaN', 1, 'Inf', 1, 'size', [md.mesh.numberofvertices], '>', 0)
         end
-        md = checkfield(md, 'fieldname', 'sampling.phi', 'NaN', 1, 'Inf', 1, 'numel', 1, '>=', 0)
         md = checkfield(md, 'fieldname', 'sampling.alpha', 'NaN', 1, 'Inf', 1, 'numel', 1, '>', 0)
         md = checkfield(md, 'fieldname', 'sampling.seed', 'NaN', 1, 'Inf', 1, 'numel', 1)