diff --git a/earthdiagnostics/datafile.py b/earthdiagnostics/datafile.py
index f43b83b0b754b9755728c93ff49a081dab3e6be1..63a3f33675f724c3a8ae10c3597d4a2ce98f8aa8 100644
--- a/earthdiagnostics/datafile.py
+++ b/earthdiagnostics/datafile.py
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ from earthdiagnostics.utils import Utils, TempFile
 from earthdiagnostics.publisher import Publisher
 from earthdiagnostics.variable import VariableType
 
+import netCDF4
+
 
 class LocalStatus(object):
     """Local file status enumeration"""
@@ -476,6 +478,14 @@ class DataFile(Publisher):
         Utils.rename_variables(
             temp, renames, must_exist=False, rename_dimension=True)
         Utils.move_file(temp, self.local_file)
+        handler2 = Utils.open_cdf(self.local_file)
+        region_var = handler2.variables['region']
+        for i, cube in enumerate(cube_list):
+            encode = 'utf-8'
+            name = region_var[i, ...].tobytes().strip().decode(encode)
+            length = handler2.dimensions['region_length'].size
+            region_var[i, ...] = netCDF4.stringtoarr(name, length)
+        handler2.close()
         self._correct_metadata()
 
     def _rename_coordinate_variables(self):