This was quite a sizable snippet, so I downloaded it, and commented everything.
My first concern would be the number of loops you have, and their placement:
# for each of the 9 $nvars,
# for each of the $nts
# For each of the $nts...
# And the for each of the $nvars...
# for each of the $nts...
you loop through 2 variables 5 times. I believe that it'd be possible to compress this to one nested loop, or to use (look away, JAPHY :) an intermediary variable to store the results of parts of your loops.
Consider the following snippet ( I have removed my comments : 
            foreach $it (1..$nt) {
                $tmp  = sprintf "%s", $some_vector[$it-1];
                foreach $k (1..$nvar) {                 
                   $tmp = $tmp.sprintf " %11.4E", $field[$it-1][$k-1];
}
                $tmp = $tmp."\n";
                print OUT $tmp;

[download]
This loop follows one similar to it, though the inner and outer loops are swapped. Consider printing $tmp as the last step of the firstforeach $k (1..$nvar) loop.
Also, I might try a little trickery with perl's definition of scalar values when computing the powers. The following snippet "reproduces" 10**n without ever using **. Though, I confess I don't know what the benchmark would be. The following snippet shows how to get the same results. This is only good for powers of ten though : 
#--- powers
$ib=10;
$x2 = 10.**($ib/2);
print "$x2\n";
$x2 = "1". "0"x($ib/2);
print "$x2\n";

#--- negative power
$ib=3;
$x2 = 10.**(-($ib+1)/2);
print "$x2\n";
$x2 = "0." . "0"x int($ib-1)/2 ."1";
print "$x2\n";

[download]
I'd like to hear from some other monks on whether this may be speedier, though.

Finally, whenever I need to speed up code, I'll document it, and more often than not, something will jump out at me. I've included the comments I made while running through your code, and I hope they prove useful.
--- 
     ....
            $nvar = 9;
     ....
            foreach $k (1..$nvar) {
                
#
#   for each of the 9 $nvars,
#
                $record = <IN>;
                chomp($record);
                
#
#   I will read in a record and clear trailing newline.
#

                @values = &decode($record,$nt,$val_m);

#
#   I will 'decode' a record, using $nt and $val_m.
#

#
#   for each of the $nts
#
                foreach $it (1..$nt) {
                    
#
#   if the $it'th-1 element of $values is less than one
#   and is not equal to $val_m, I will die.
                  if ($values[$it-1] < 0 and $values[$it-1] != $val_m)
+ {
                     die "error: found negative value.\n";
                  }
                  
                  
                  $field[$it-1][$k-1] = $values[$it-1];
#
#   I will put $values[$it-1] into $field[$it-1][k-1].
#
                }
            }
            
            foreach $it (1..$nt) {
# 
#   For each of the $nts...
#
                $tmp  = sprintf "%s", $some_vector[$it-1];
#
#   I will format $some_vector[$it-1].
#
                foreach $k (1..$nvar) {
#
#   And the for each of the $nvars...
#
                    
                   $tmp = $tmp.sprintf " %11.4E", $field[$it-1][$k-1];

                }
               $tmp = $tmp."\n";
               print OUT $tmp;
#
#   I'll format it and print it.
#
            }

#     (2) this is seems to go the same speed as the one above ...
#
#           foreach $it (1..$nt) {
#               printf OUT "%s", $some_vector[$it-1];
#               foreach $k (1..$nvar) {
#                  printf OUT " %11.4E", $field[$it-1][$k-1];
#               }
#               print OUT "\n";
#           }
               ....


sub decode() {

# this routine should decode the $record where there are a series of
# $nt decimal fractions in the first part of the string 
# (5*$nt characters),and exponents in the last decimal fractions are
# written as 5-digit integers, and must be multiplied by 10.**(-5),
# negative exponents are coded as 2-digit odd numbers, while positive
# exponents are even numbers
# 12345...01... where 01 are characters $nt*5 and $nt*5+1 will give
# 1.234E-01

   my $record = shift();
   my $nt = shift();
   my $val_missing = shift();

   $lmina = 0;
   $lminb = 5 * $nt;
   foreach $it (1..$nt) {
       
#
#   for each of the $nts...
#
      $ia = substr($record,$lmina,5);
      $ib = substr($record,$lminb,2);
#      
#  I'll set ia and ib  to be certain substrings of $record 
#
      if ($ia ==  0 and $ib == 99) {
         $values[$it-1] = $val_missing;
         
         
#
#   if $ia is exactly zero, and $ib is exactly 99, set $values[$it-1] 
+to $val_missing.
#
      } else {
 
         $x1 = $ia  * 10.**(-5);
#
#   otherwise, set $x1 to $ia times 10 to the negative fifth power.
#
         if (($ib % 2) == 0) {
            $x2 = 10.**($ib/2);
         } else {
            $x2 = 10.**(-($ib+1)/2);
         }
#
#   if $ib is evenly divisible by two, set $x2 to 
#   10 to the (half of $ib'th) power,
#   otherwise, set $x2 to the negative (half of $ib'th+1) power.
#
         $values[$it-1] = $x1 * $x2;
         
#
#   set $values [$it-1] to the sum of $x1 and $x2.
#
      }
      $lmina = $lmina + 5;
      $lminb = $lminb + 2;
      
#   increase the position of $lmina and $lminb.      
   }
   return @values;
}

[download]

In reply to (boo) Dissecting PerlTRAN by boo_radley
in thread how can I speed this up? by rbi

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