diff --git a/libglimmer/glimmer_ncio.F90 b/libglimmer/glimmer_ncio.F90
index a498a366..ad7f4263 100644
--- a/libglimmer/glimmer_ncio.F90
+++ b/libglimmer/glimmer_ncio.F90
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ subroutine glimmer_nc_createfile(outfile, model, baseline_year)
     if (present(baseline_year)) then
        sub_baseline_year = baseline_year
     else
-       sub_baseline_year = 1
+       sub_baseline_year = 0
     end if
 
     ! create new netCDF file