diff --git a/amr-wind/utilities/sampling/PlaneSampler.H b/amr-wind/utilities/sampling/PlaneSampler.H
index 468f284789..e3c3542345 100644
--- a/amr-wind/utilities/sampling/PlaneSampler.H
+++ b/amr-wind/utilities/sampling/PlaneSampler.H
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ private:
     amrex::Vector<amrex::Real> m_axis1;
     amrex::Vector<amrex::Real> m_axis2;
     amrex::Vector<amrex::Real> m_origin;
-    amrex::Vector<amrex::Real> m_normal{0.0, 0.0, 0.0};
+    amrex::Vector<amrex::Real> m_offset_vector{0.0, 0.0, 0.0};
     amrex::Vector<amrex::Real> m_poffsets;
     amrex::Vector<int> m_npts_dir;
 
diff --git a/amr-wind/utilities/sampling/PlaneSampler.cpp b/amr-wind/utilities/sampling/PlaneSampler.cpp
index d097f2cd7b..67322b734c 100644
--- a/amr-wind/utilities/sampling/PlaneSampler.cpp
+++ b/amr-wind/utilities/sampling/PlaneSampler.cpp
@@ -26,9 +26,15 @@ void PlaneSampler::initialize(const std::string& key)
     pp.queryarr("offsets", m_poffsets);
     int noffsets = static_cast<int>(m_poffsets.size());
     if (noffsets > 0) {
-        pp.getarr("normal", m_normal);
+        if (pp.contains("normal")) {
+            amrex::Abort(
+                "PlaneSampler: option normal is deprecated and renamed to "
+                "offset_vector");
+        }
+
+        pp.getarr("offset_vector", m_offset_vector);
         AMREX_ALWAYS_ASSERT(
-            static_cast<int>(m_normal.size()) == AMREX_SPACEDIM);
+            static_cast<int>(m_offset_vector.size()) == AMREX_SPACEDIM);
     } else {
         m_poffsets.push_back(0.0);
     }
@@ -62,7 +68,7 @@ void PlaneSampler::sampling_locations(SampleLocType& locs) const
             for (int i = 0; i < m_npts_dir[0]; ++i) {
                 for (int d = 0; d < AMREX_SPACEDIM; ++d) {
                     locs[idx][d] = m_origin[d] + dx[d] * i + dy[d] * j +
-                                   m_poffsets[k] * m_normal[d];
+                                   m_poffsets[k] * m_offset_vector[d];
                 }
                 ++idx;
             }
@@ -80,7 +86,7 @@ void PlaneSampler::define_netcdf_metadata(const ncutils::NCGroup& grp) const
     grp.put_attr("origin", m_origin);
     grp.put_attr("axis1", m_axis1);
     grp.put_attr("axis2", m_axis2);
-    grp.put_attr("axis3", m_normal);
+    grp.put_attr("offset_vector", m_offset_vector);
     grp.put_attr("offsets", m_poffsets);
 }
 
diff --git a/docs/sphinx/user/inputs_Sampling.rst b/docs/sphinx/user/inputs_Sampling.rst
index cde86490e9..a564e738be 100644
--- a/docs/sphinx/user/inputs_Sampling.rst
+++ b/docs/sphinx/user/inputs_Sampling.rst
@@ -124,18 +124,26 @@ The ``PlaneSampler`` samples the flow-field on two-dimensional planes defined by
 two axes: ``axis1`` and ``axis2`` with the bottom corner located at ``origin``
 and is divided into equally spaced nodes defined by the two entries in
 ``num_points`` vector. Multiple planes parallel to the reference planes can be
-sampled by specifying the ``normal`` vector along which the the planes are
+sampled by specifying the ``offset_vector`` vector along which the the planes are
 offset for as many planes as there are entries in the ``offset`` array.
 
 Example::
 
-  sampling.plane1.type        = PlaneSampler
-  sampling.plane1.axis1       = 0.0 1.0 0.0
-  sampling.plane1.axis2       = 0.0 0.0 1.0
-  sampling.plane1.origin      = 0.0 0.0 0.0
-  sampling.plane1.num_points  = 10 10
-  sampling.plane1.normal      = 1.0 0.0 0.0
-  sampling.plane1.offsets     = -10.0 0.0 10.0
+  sampling.plane1.type          = PlaneSampler
+  sampling.plane1.axis1         = 1.0 0.0 0.0
+  sampling.plane1.axis2         = 0.0 0.0 1.0
+  sampling.plane1.origin        = 0.0 0.0 0.0
+  sampling.plane1.num_points    = 10 10
+  sampling.plane1.offset_vector = 1.0 0.0 0.0
+  sampling.plane1.offsets       = 0.0 2.0 3.0
+
+Illustration of this example:
+
+.. figure:: planesampler.png
+   :alt: PlaneSampler
+   :width: 800
+
+   Example of sampling on planes.
 
 Sampling at arbitrary locations
 ````````````````````````````````
diff --git a/docs/sphinx/user/planesampler.png b/docs/sphinx/user/planesampler.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d5d7e1d2c3
Binary files /dev/null and b/docs/sphinx/user/planesampler.png differ
diff --git a/unit_tests/utilities/test_sampling.cpp b/unit_tests/utilities/test_sampling.cpp
index efc495513d..d4f0ce0c42 100644
--- a/unit_tests/utilities/test_sampling.cpp
+++ b/unit_tests/utilities/test_sampling.cpp
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ TEST_F(SamplingTest, plane_sampler)
         pp.addarr("origin", amrex::Vector<double>{0.0, 0.0, 0.0});
         pp.addarr("num_points", amrex::Vector<int>{3, 3});
         pp.addarr("offsets", amrex::Vector<double>{-1.0, 1.0});
-        pp.addarr("normal", amrex::Vector<double>{1.0, 0.0, 0.0});
+        pp.addarr("offset_vector", amrex::Vector<double>{1.0, 0.0, 0.0});
     }
 
     amr_wind::sampling::PlaneSampler plane(sim());