Comparison of closest (OBS, SIM) pairs (i, j) (gray boxes) to neighboring (OBS, OBS) pairs (i, i′). The top row focuses on the closest observation to simulations, which corresponds to a patch of Ophiuchus, while the bottom row focuses on the second closest patch, which is in Aquila. In the latter case, neighboring (but independent) observations of Aquila are significantly closer than the closest simulations. The maps are shown in units of 10²⁰cm⁻² but the colorbars can change from a pair to another.