diff --git a/activestorage/active.py b/activestorage/active.py
index 7ffe141c..fb963f32 100644
--- a/activestorage/active.py
+++ b/activestorage/active.py
@@ -114,6 +114,9 @@ def hfix(x):
 
     _FillValue = hfix(ds.attrs.get('_FillValue'))
     missing_value = ds.attrs.get('missing_value')
+    # see https://github.com/NCAS-CMS/PyActiveStorage/pull/303
+    if isinstance(missing_value, np.ndarray):
+        missing_value = missing_value[0]
     valid_min = hfix(ds.attrs.get('valid_min'))
     valid_max = hfix(ds.attrs.get('valid_max'))
     valid_range = hfix(ds.attrs.get('valid_range'))
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_active.py b/tests/unit/test_active.py
index 30453e5b..d2f5c600 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_active.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_active.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from botocore.exceptions import NoCredentialsError as NoCredsExc
 from netCDF4 import Dataset
 
-from activestorage.active import Active, load_from_s3
+from activestorage.active import Active, load_from_s3, get_missing_attributes
 from activestorage.config import *
 
 
@@ -32,6 +32,13 @@ def test_uri_nonexistent():
     assert str(exc.value) == expected
 
 
+def test_get_missing_attributes():
+    """Test get missing attributes."""
+    ds = pyfive.File("tests/test_data/cesm2_native.nc")["TREFHT"]
+    missing_attrs = get_missing_attributes(ds)
+    assert missing_attrs == (np.float32(-900.0), np.float32(-900.0), None, None)
+
+
 def test_getitem():
     """Unit test for class:Active."""
     # no variable passed