yyyymm.DELZ.avg files are global 3-D monthly average layer thickness (m), yyyymm.PS.avg files are global 2-D surface pressure (mb). These are IEEE -N null format, 32 bits, big endian binary files generated by Fortran 90 on Cray. To read using fortran (with correct file format - see below) : parameter (imx=144,jmx=91,lmx=30) dimension delz(imx,jmx,lmx),ps(imx,jmx) read(unitdz) delz read(unitps) ps Where imx = total number of longitudinal grid, jmx = total number of latitudinal grid, lmx = total number of vertical layers. If you use fortran on a SGI machine, please use the following statement when read the binary file: open(xx,file='xyz',status='old',access='sequential',form='system')