fixing the branching problem with stats2_psi_only.py did not fix the restart jagged enstrophy divergence problems after all. It appears though that it can be fixed both by changing the restart file to an unformatted file (see loopformattest) and by reseting some indices before opening the restart file (see loopindextest). Not sure how the index one works, for now just changing format globally. Could come back to this if problem recurs, (i.e. compare the outputs of index vs. format, though they look the same from visual of enstrophy) but does not seem significant. now running tweaked versions with restart correction.
fixed loop runs have finished running. enstrophy does not look to have stabilized in any of them- though froudevar (which has a deeper lower layer) is not increasing monotonically. however no recirculation gyres apparent. next steps are to extend current runs, attempt replication of waterman and jayne- from there i will have more confidence in results to make changes