Sorry for jumping in, I hope it is not too confusing. When you say "...when Java reads it, the dimension length is defined as the (signed) integer..." do you mean the netcdf-java library or a program you are writing? If the latter, then it is possible to use the Java long type to properly represent such a number. =Dennis Heimbigner Unidata Ticket Details =================== Ticket ID: CPC-398807 Department: Support netCDF Java Priority: Normal Status: Closed