you are using netcdf-4 format i think. this has much more complex storage 
objects than what you are used to with netcdf-3 format.
LB wrote:
Hi,
I'm very new to netCDF and I was surprised by the size of files 
generated by netCDF.
Here is the header of the netCDF file :
ncdump -h cycle.nc <http://cycle.nc>
netcdf cycle {
dimensions:
        Regime = 3 ;
group: Regimes {
  variables:
        float T41(Regime) ;
        float TTR(Regime) ;
        float N1(Regime) ;
  } // group Regimes
group: Cycles {
  dimensions:
        Cycle = 5 ;
        SousCycle = 11 ;
  variables:
        byte Type(Cycle) ;
        short Nb_lignes(Cycle) ;
        short Indice(SousCycle) ;
        short Repeat(SousCycle) ;
        float Duree(SousCycle) ;
  } // group Cycles
group: Simulation {
  dimensions:
        Temps = UNLIMITED ; // (19168 currently)
  variables:
        float Temps(Temps) ;
        byte Regime(Temps) ;
        float T41(Temps) ;
        float e_p1(Temps) ;
        float Temps_Touche ;
  } // group Simulation
}
The generated file is 3.1 Mo and so 50% heavier than I had expected. 
Here is how I calculated the expected file size :
  	  	name  	Dimension 	cell size 	Nb cell 	variable size 	 
group: Regimes { 	  	  	  	  	  	 
  	float 	T41 	Regime 	32 	3 	96 	 
  	float 	TTR 	Regime 	32 	3 	96 	 
  	float 	N1 	Regime 	32 	3 	96 	 
group: Cycles { 	
        
                
        
	 
  	byte 	Type 	Cycle 	8 	5 	40 	 
  	short 	Nb_lignes 	Cycle 	16 	5 	80 	 
  	short 	Indice 	SousCycle 	16 	11 	176 	 
  	short 	Repeat 	SousCycle 	16 	11 	176 	 
  	float 	Duree 	SousCycle 	32 	11 	352 	 
group: Simulation { 	
        
                
        
	 
  	float 	Temps 	Temps 	32 	19168 	613376 	 
  	byte 	Regime 	Temps 	8 	19168 	153344 	 
  	float 	T41 	Temps 	32 	19168 	613376 	 
  	float 	e_p1 	Temps 	32 	19168 	613376 	 
  	float 	Temps_Touche 	32 	1 	32 	 
  	
        
        
                
        
	 
  	
        
        
                total size      1994616         Bits
                                        soit    1.99    Mo
Is there anything I forgot ?
Besides, I would like to know how to if there is any efficient way to 
reduce this size:
 - I've tried to use deflate_level=1 to 9 in nf90_def_var for the 
variables in the simulation group but it didn't change the file size.
Is there anything else to do to to let netcdf compress data ? gzip seems 
to compress the resulting file quite well.
 - Is there a way to store 16bits float to compress data (with loss) in 
order to reduce the size of data where we have a limited resolution ?
Best regards,
--
Loic
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