diff --git a/doc/source/lvem.rst b/doc/source/lvem.rst
index 576f7280443a688d7f9c879280d97d2c0a3006a8..b381e6c8dbf398b56aca58096b41e0d76fb525ce 100644
--- a/doc/source/lvem.rst
+++ b/doc/source/lvem.rst
@@ -149,8 +149,9 @@ observation record consisting of three separate footprints::
     if r.status == 201:       # 201 means 'Created'
         print 'Success!'
 
-For users not familiar with Python, there are several other options available for 
-uploading observation records:
+Note that the start times are always assumed to be in UTC. For users not
+familiar with Python, there are several other options available for uploading
+observation records:
 
 - by using the webform on each event page (scroll down to the 'EM Observations'
   section and click on 'add observation record'). However, this method requires
diff --git a/doc/source/web.rst b/doc/source/web.rst
index d49558d32f83538012a4183509ed5e3bc8286c11..66aebafa7bf51da49379189c6ca486c24bae0fde 100644
--- a/doc/source/web.rst
+++ b/doc/source/web.rst
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ each other in various ways:
 - by GPS time or range 
     - ``gpstime: 999999999``
     - ``899999000..999999999``
-- by event creation time
+- by event creation time in UTC
     - ``created: 2009-10-08 .. 2009-12-04 16:00:00``
     - ``yesterday .. now``
 - by specific graceid or range
diff --git a/templates/gracedb/emo_form_frag.html b/templates/gracedb/emo_form_frag.html
index 5ef3309b54ce679fc0bc7f6d65d082a98a91b66e..4f00a2dac20f4e464e588cffff2acd3fc879e346 100644
--- a/templates/gracedb/emo_form_frag.html
+++ b/templates/gracedb/emo_form_frag.html
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ RAwidth (decimal degrees)</a></td>        <td><input type="text" name="raWidthLi
 <tr><td><a href=# onclick="alert('RAWidth and DecWidth specify the size of a a rectangle that is aligned equatorially. Thus the edge of the box is distant from the center by half of the width.');return false;">
 Decwidth (decimal degrees)</a></td>       <td><input type="text" name="decWidthList" value=""/></td></tr>
 
-<tr><td><a href=# onclick="alert('The time at the beginning of a time interval during which the observation was taken. Or list of times. ISO 8601');return false;">
+<tr><td><a href=# onclick="alert('The time at the beginning of a time interval during which the observation was taken. Or list of times. UTC in ISO 8601 format.');return false;">
 StartTime</a></td>
 <td><input type="text" name="startTimeList" value="" size=80/></td>
 </tr>