Index: /issm/trunk/src/m/utils/Geometry/FlagElements.m
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk/src/m/utils/Geometry/FlagElements.m	(revision 2989)
+++ /issm/trunk/src/m/utils/Geometry/FlagElements.m	(revision 2990)
@@ -29,6 +29,14 @@
 				invert=0;
 			end
-			%ok, flag elements
-			flag=ContourToMesh(md.elements(:,1:3),md.x,md.y,expread(area,1),'element',1);
+
+			%does the area domain outline exist or do we have to look for xlim,ylim in basinzoom?
+			if ~exist(area,'file'),
+				[xlim,ylim]=basinzoom(area)
+				flag_nodes=double(md.x<xlim(2) & md.x>xlim(1) &  md.y<ylim(2) & md.y>ylim(1));
+				flag=prod(flag_nodes(md.elements),2);
+			else
+				%ok, flag elements
+				flag=ContourToMesh(md.elements(:,1:3),md.x,md.y,expread(area,1),'element',1);
+			end
 		end
 		if invert,