diff --git a/components/mpas-ocean/src/mode_init/mpas_ocn_init_mode.F b/components/mpas-ocean/src/mode_init/mpas_ocn_init_mode.F
index b74350de0b59..d4afe1d1793a 100644
--- a/components/mpas-ocean/src/mode_init/mpas_ocn_init_mode.F
+++ b/components/mpas-ocean/src/mode_init/mpas_ocn_init_mode.F
@@ -267,9 +267,15 @@ function ocn_init_mode_run(domain) result(iErr)!{{{
       type (mpas_pool_type), pointer :: forcingPool
 
       type (MPAS_timeInterval_type) :: timeStep
+      real (kind=RKIND), dimension(:,:), pointer :: normalVelocity
 
       ierr = 0
 
+      ! Initialize normalVelocity to zero for cases that do not specify it.
+      call mpas_pool_get_subpool(domain % blocklist % structs, 'state', statePool)
+      call mpas_pool_get_array(statePool, 'normalVelocity', normalVelocity, 1)
+      normalVelocity(:,:) = 0.0_RKIND
+
       ! Eventually, dt should be domain specific
       timeStep = mpas_get_clock_timestep(domain % clock, ierr=ierr)
       call mpas_get_timeInterval(timeStep, dt=dt)