diff --git a/modules/util/acspo_validate.py b/modules/util/acspo_validate.py
index e3ae56222efb0740bb01c4dddb0bec6449290137..0627c836f70dfacb759b287d1c1f9f7e31e3d150 100644
--- a/modules/util/acspo_validate.py
+++ b/modules/util/acspo_validate.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import xarray as xr
 from util.util import get_grid_values_all
 
 
-def acspo_validate(oper_file, cspp_file):
+def acspo_validate(oper_file, cspp_file, outfile=None):
 
     h5f_oper = h5py.File(oper_file, 'r')
     h5f_cspp = h5py.File(cspp_file, 'r')
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@ def acspo_validate(oper_file, cspp_file):
         'oper_lat': xr.DataArray([valid_lat_oper], coords=None, dims=None, name='oper_lat'),
         'oper_lon': xr.DataArray([valid_lon_oper], coords=None, dims=None, name='oper_lon'),
     })
-    xarray_data.to_netcdf('/Users/tomrink/sst_values.nc')
+    if outfile is not None:
+        xarray_data.to_netcdf('/Users/tomrink/sst_values.nc')
 
     print('fraction approx equal: ',
           np.sum(np.isclose(valid_sst_cspp, valid_sst_oper, rtol=0.001))/np.sum(both_valid))