diff -up ncl_ncarg-6.2.0/ni/src/ncl/NclNewHDF5.c.hdf5 ncl_ncarg-6.2.0/ni/src/ncl/NclNewHDF5.c
--- ncl_ncarg-6.2.0/ni/src/ncl/NclNewHDF5.c.hdf5	2014-03-31 20:23:16.000000000 -0600
+++ ncl_ncarg-6.2.0/ni/src/ncl/NclNewHDF5.c	2014-04-04 14:06:02.352612375 -0600
@@ -2549,7 +2549,7 @@ NrmQuark* _get_refquarks(hid_t dset, hid
 
     f_space = H5Dget_space(dset);
 
-    if (f_space == FAIL)
+    if (0 > f_space)
     {
         fprintf(stderr, "\nfile: %s, line: %d\n", __FILE__, __LINE__);
         fprintf(stderr, "\tH5Dget_space failed.\n");