diff --git a/src/goes_abi_converter_mod.f90 b/src/goes_abi_converter_mod.f90
index 415390d0..f01447f1 100644
--- a/src/goes_abi_converter_mod.f90
+++ b/src/goes_abi_converter_mod.f90
@@ -105,7 +105,10 @@ subroutine write_iodav3_netcdf(fname, nlocs, nchans, missing_r, missing_i, &
         call check(netcdfAddGroup(ncid, 'MetaData'))
 
         call check(netcdfAddDim(ncid, 'nlocs', nlocs, nlocs_dimid))
+        call check(netcdfAddVar(ncid, 'nlocs', NF90_INT, 1, ['nlocs']))
+
         call check(netcdfAddDim(ncid, 'nchans', nchans, nchans_dimid))
+        call check(netcdfAddVar(ncid, 'nchans', NF90_INT, 1, ['nchans']))
 
         ! Define variables
         call check(netcdfAddVar(ncid, "brightness_temperature", NF90_REAL, 2, ['nlocs ', 'nchans'], 'ObsValue', fillValue=missing_r))
diff --git a/test/validation/data/goes_abi/write_ioda_v3/reference/write_goes_abi_ioda_v3.nc b/test/validation/data/goes_abi/write_ioda_v3/reference/write_goes_abi_ioda_v3.nc
index b47855c9..8d26ab46 100644
Binary files a/test/validation/data/goes_abi/write_ioda_v3/reference/write_goes_abi_ioda_v3.nc and b/test/validation/data/goes_abi/write_ioda_v3/reference/write_goes_abi_ioda_v3.nc differ
diff --git a/test/validation/test_goes_abi.py b/test/validation/test_goes_abi.py
index b2dd40f1..1af9ff80 100644
--- a/test/validation/test_goes_abi.py
+++ b/test/validation/test_goes_abi.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from numpy.ma.core import masked_equal
+
 from test_utils.utils import extract_structure, format_netcdf_assert_msg
 
 import pytest
@@ -110,7 +112,7 @@ def test_data_match(goes_abi_file_pair):
             test = test_struct[group][varname]
 
             if np.issubdtype(ref["dtype"], np.number):
-                assert np.allclose(ref["data"], test["data"], rtol=1e-5, atol=1e-6), format_netcdf_assert_msg(
+                assert np.ma.allclose(ref["data"], test["data"], rtol=1e-5, atol=1e-6, masked_equal=True), format_netcdf_assert_msg(
                     output_file.name, group, varname, "Numerical data mismatch", ref["data"], test["data"]
                 )
             elif np.issubdtype(ref["dtype"], np.str_):