diff --git a/modules/icing/pirep_goes.py b/modules/icing/pirep_goes.py
index 9361e7ba1817f2df2abfb7d5dc0899f0db5367c8..7358b679da0f70ce7ab273a46512c4e533d59dda 100644
--- a/modules/icing/pirep_goes.py
+++ b/modules/icing/pirep_goes.py
@@ -107,10 +107,10 @@ def create_file(filename, data_dct, ds_list, lon_c, lat_c, time_s, fl_alt_s):
         data = data_dct[ds_name]
         h5f.create_dataset(ds_name, data=data)
 
-    h5f.create_dataset('longitude', data=lon_c)
-    h5f.create_dataset('latitude', data=lat_c)
-    h5f.create_dataset('time', data=time_s)
-    h5f.create_dataset('icing_altitude', data=fl_alt_s)
+    (h5f.create_dataset('longitude', data=lon_c)).attrs.create('units', data='degrees_east')
+    (h5f.create_dataset('latitude', data=lat_c)).attrs.create('units', data='degrees_north')
+    (h5f.create_dataset('time', data=time_s)).attrs.create('units', data='seconds since 1970-1-1 00:00:00')
+    (h5f.create_dataset('icing_altitude', data=fl_alt_s)).attrs.create('units', data='m')
 
     # copy relevant attributes
     for ds_name in ds_list: