diff --git a/modules/icing/pirep_goes.py b/modules/icing/pirep_goes.py
index 8467a61aab3cee276e558093b410233b647d8dbe..778826f76832fd889421de171d68f28886993248 100644
--- a/modules/icing/pirep_goes.py
+++ b/modules/icing/pirep_goes.py
@@ -125,9 +125,14 @@ def create_file(filename, data_dct, ds_list, lon_c, lat_c, time_s, fl_alt_s):
 
     # copy relevant attributes
     for ds_name in ds_list:
-        h5f[ds_name].attrs.create('standard_name', data=h5f_expl[ds_name].attrs.get('standard_name'))
-        h5f[ds_name].attrs.create('long_name', data=h5f_expl[ds_name].attrs.get('long_name'))
-        h5f[ds_name].attrs.create('units', data=h5f_expl[ds_name].attrs.get('units'))
+        h5f_ds = h5f[ds_name]
+        h5f_ds.attrs.create('standard_name', data=h5f_expl[ds_name].attrs.get('standard_name'))
+        h5f_ds.attrs.create('long_name', data=h5f_expl[ds_name].attrs.get('long_name'))
+        h5f_ds.attrs.create('units', data=h5f_expl[ds_name].attrs.get('units'))
+        h5f_ds.dims[0].label = 'time'
+        h5f_ds.dims[1].label = 'y'
+        h5f_ds.dims[2].label = 'x'
+
 
     h5f.close()