The issue is present in 4.3.1-rc5, but not in 4.3.1-rc4. The only relevant release note I see is "When opening a netCDF-4 file, streamline the iteration over objects in the underlying HDF5 file." I found a 2M file that shows the same problem - see https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_ijCK6xm1R1MW1nU2dsWnNXbE0/view?usp=sharing 3 second ncdump with rc4 vs almost 2 minute ncdump with rc5. Simon
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