diff --git a/src/preprocessor.py b/src/preprocessor.py
index bd36c3cba..d65cfd7fc 100644
--- a/src/preprocessor.py
+++ b/src/preprocessor.py
@@ -1116,7 +1116,7 @@ def query_catalog(self,
                             if not var_xr:
                                 var_xr = cat_subset_dict[k]
                             else:
-                                var_xr = xr.concat([var_xr, cat_subset_dict[k]], "time")
+                                var_xr = xr.concat([var_xr, cat_subset_dict[k]], var.T.name)
                 else:
                     # get xarray dataset for static variable
                     cat_index = [k for k in cat_subset_dict.keys()][0]