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NetCDF-4 allows some interoperability with HDF5.
The HDF5 Files produced by netCDF-4 are perfectly respectable HDF5 files, and can be read by any HDF5 application.
NetCDF-4 relies on several new features of HDF5, including dimension scales. The HDF5 dimension scales feature adds a bunch of attributes to the HDF5 file to keep track of the dimension information.
It is not just wrong, but wrong-headed, to modify these attributes except with the HDF5 dimension scale API. If you do so, then you will deserve what you get, which will be a mess.
Additionally, netCDF stores some extra information for dimensions without dimension scale information. (That is, a dimension without an associated coordinate variable). So HDF5 users should not write data to a netCDF-4 file which extends any unlimited dimension.
Also there are some types allowed in HDF5, but not allowed in netCDF-4 (for example the time type). Using any such type in a netCDF-4 file will cause the file to become unreadable to netCDF-4. So don't do it.
NetCDF-4 ignores all HDF5 references. Can't make head nor tail of them. Also netCDF-4 assumes a strictly hierarchical group structure. No looping, you weirdo!
Attributes can be added (they must be one of the netCDF-4 types), modified, or even deleted, in HDF5.
Assuming a HDF5 file is written in accordance with the netCDF-4 rules (i.e. no strange types, no looping groups), and assuming that *every* dataset has a dimension scale attached to each dimension, the netCDF-4 API can be used to read and edit the file.
In HDF5 (version 1.8.0 and later), dimension scales are (generally) 1D datasets, that hold dimension data. A multi-dimensional dataset can then attach a dimension scale to any or all of it's dimensions. For example, a user might have 1D dimension scales for lat and lon, and a 2D dataset which has lat attached to the first dimension, and lon to the second.
Dimension scales are vital to netCDF-4, which uses shared dimensions. If you want to read a HDF5 file with netCDF-4, it must use dimension scales, and one dimension scale must be attached to each dimension of every dataset in the file.
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