diff --git a/config_src/infra/FMS2/MOM_io_infra.F90 b/config_src/infra/FMS2/MOM_io_infra.F90
index 90def0300f..b4d0342372 100644
--- a/config_src/infra/FMS2/MOM_io_infra.F90
+++ b/config_src/infra/FMS2/MOM_io_infra.F90
@@ -1572,17 +1572,13 @@ subroutine categorize_axes(fileObj, filename, ndims, dim_names, is_x, is_y, is_t
       if (variable_exists(fileobj, trim(dim_names(i)))) then
         if (variable_att_exists(fileobj, trim(dim_names(i)), "cartesian_axis")) then
           call get_variable_attribute(fileobj, trim(dim_names(i)), "cartesian_axis", cartesian)
-          cartesian = adjustl(cartesian)
-          if ((index(cartesian, "X") == 1) .or. (index(cartesian, "x") == 1)) is_x(i) = .true.
-          if ((index(cartesian, "Y") == 1) .or. (index(cartesian, "y") == 1)) is_y(i) = .true.
-          if ((index(cartesian, "T") == 1) .or. (index(cartesian, "t") == 1)) is_t(i) = .true.
         elseif (variable_att_exists(fileobj, trim(dim_names(i)), "axis")) then
           call get_variable_attribute(fileobj, trim(dim_names(i)), "axis", cartesian)
-          cartesian = adjustl(cartesian)
-          if ((index(cartesian, "X") == 1) .or. (index(cartesian, "x") == 1)) is_x(i) = .true.
-          if ((index(cartesian, "Y") == 1) .or. (index(cartesian, "y") == 1)) is_y(i) = .true.
-          if ((index(cartesian, "T") == 1) .or. (index(cartesian, "t") == 1)) is_t(i) = .true.
         endif
+        cartesian = adjustl(cartesian)
+        if ((index(cartesian, "X") == 1) .or. (index(cartesian, "x") == 1)) is_x(i) = .true.
+        if ((index(cartesian, "Y") == 1) .or. (index(cartesian, "y") == 1)) is_y(i) = .true.
+        if ((index(cartesian, "T") == 1) .or. (index(cartesian, "t") == 1)) is_t(i) = .true.
       endif
     endif
     if (is_x(i)) x_found = .true.