diff --git a/perf/benchmark_netcdf_io.jl b/perf/benchmark_netcdf_io.jl
index 8b9cf22008..4950fb7619 100644
--- a/perf/benchmark_netcdf_io.jl
+++ b/perf/benchmark_netcdf_io.jl
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ for device in keys(timings)
     NCDatasets.defDim(nc, "x", NUM)
     NCDatasets.defDim(nc, "y", NUM)
     NCDatasets.defDim(nc, "z", NUM)
-    v = NCDatasets.defVar(nc, "rhoa", Float32, ("time", "x", "y", "z"))
+    v = NCDatasets.defVar(nc, "rhoa", Float64, ("time", "x", "y", "z"))
     outarray = Array(netcdf_writer.remappers["rhoa"]._interpolated_values)
     v[1, :, :, :] = outarray
 
diff --git a/src/diagnostics/netcdf_writer.jl b/src/diagnostics/netcdf_writer.jl
index 3f8d08869b..9b7952153f 100644
--- a/src/diagnostics/netcdf_writer.jl
+++ b/src/diagnostics/netcdf_writer.jl
@@ -527,7 +527,7 @@ function NetCDFWriter(;
     cspace,
     num_points = (180, 90, 50),
     disable_vertical_interpolation = false,
-    compression_level = 9,
+    compression_level = 0,
 )
     space = cspace
     horizontal_space = Spaces.horizontal_space(space)