void bi::ParticleMCMCNetCDFBuffer::create(const long P, const long T) {
  int id, i;
  VarType type;
  Var* var;
  Dim* dim;

  ncFile->add_att(PACKAGE_TARNAME "_schema", "ParticleMCMC");
  ncFile->add_att(PACKAGE_TARNAME "_schema_version", 1);
  ncFile->add_att(PACKAGE_TARNAME "_version", PACKAGE_VERSION);

  /* dimensions */
  nrDim = createDim("nr", T);
  for (i = 0; i < m.getNumDims(); ++i) {
    dim = m.getDim(i);
    nDims.push_back(createDim(dim->getName().c_str(), dim->getSize()));
  }
  npDim = createDim("np", P);

  /* time variable */
  tVar = ncFile->add_var("time", netcdf_real, nrDim);
  BI_ERROR_MSG(tVar != NULL && tVar->is_valid(), "Could not create time variable");

  /* other variables */
  for (i = 0; i < NUM_VAR_TYPES; ++i) {
    type = static_cast<VarType>(i);
    vars[type].resize(m.getNumVars(type), NULL);

    if (type == D_VAR || type == R_VAR || type == P_VAR) {
      for (id = 0; id < (int)vars[type].size(); ++id) {
        var = m.getVar(type, id);
        if (var->hasOutput()) {
          if (type == P_VAR) {
            vars[type][id] = createVar(var, false, true);
          } else {
            vars[type][id] = createVar(var, !var->getOutputOnce(), true);
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }

  llVar = ncFile->add_var("loglikelihood", netcdf_real, npDim);
  BI_ERROR_MSG(llVar != NULL && llVar->is_valid(),
      "Could not create loglikelihood variable");

  lpVar = ncFile->add_var("logprior", netcdf_real, npDim);
  BI_ERROR_MSG(lpVar != NULL && lpVar->is_valid(),
      "Could not create logprior variable");

}