character variable in netcdf file

Hi,
I am trying to create a netCDF file using NCL that has a character
variable in it. When I do a ncdump -h of the file, I want this variable
to look like this:

netcdf ICTP-REGCM3_CTL_ERA40_MM_50km_1961_2001_hfss {
dimensions:
        time = 480 ;
        tbnds = 2 ;
        y = 98 ;
        x = 86 ;
variables:
        char Lambert_Conformal ;
                Lambert_Conformal:latitude_of_projection_origin = 50.f ;
                Lambert_Conformal:longitude_of_central_meridian = 13.f ;
                Lambert_Conformal:standard_parallel = 13.f ;
                Lambert_Conformal:grid_mapping_name =
"lambert_conformal_conic" ;
 ...rest of file

However, I can't seem to get it quite right. Right now, this is what I
am getting:

      netcdf ICTP-REGCM3_CTL_ERA40_MM_50km_1961_2001_hfss {
dimensions:
        ncl0 = 1 ;
        time = 480 ;
        tbnds = 2 ;
        y = 98 ;
        x = 86 ;
variables:
        char Lambert_Conformal(ncl0) ;
                Lambert_Conformal:latitude_of_projection_origin = 50.f ;
                Lambert_Conformal:longitude_of_central_meridian = 13.f ;
                Lambert_Conformal:standard_parallel = 13.f ;
                Lambert_Conformal:grid_mapping_name =
"lambert_conformal_conic" ;
                Lambert_Conformal:_FillValue = "" ;
...rest of file

I don't want "Lambert_Conformal" to have any dimension or missing value.
My code to create this is here:

Lambert_Conformal = new(1,character)
Lambert_Conformal_at_grid_mapping_name =
"lambert_conformal_conic"
Lambert_Conformal_at_standard_parallel = 13.0
Lambert_Conformal_at_longitude_of_central_meridian = 13.0
Lambert_Conformal_at_latitude_of_projection_origin = 50.0

I tried doing
Lambert_Conformal = new(1,character)
Lambert_Conformal_at_grid_mapping_name =
"lambert_conformal_conic"
Lambert_Conformal_at_standard_parallel = 13.0
Lambert_Conformal_at_longitude_of_central_meridian = 13.0
Lambert_Conformal_at_latitude_of_projection_origin = 50.0
Lambert_Conformal!0="Lambert_Conformal"
Lambert_Conformal&Lambert_Conformal=Lambert_Conformal

but this just changed "ncl0" to Lambert_Conformal.

Probably I could use NCO to edit the file attributes, but I have to do
this for hundreds of files, and so I would like to do this cleanly in my
NCL scripts. Can anyone help me? Thanks!

cheers,
sara

-- 
Dr. Sara A. Rauscher
Earth System Physics Section 
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics
Strada Costiera 11 
34014 Trieste ITALY
ph: +39 040 2240 225 fax: +39 040 2240 449
email: srausche_at_ictp.it
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