diff --git a/erddapy/erddapy.py b/erddapy/erddapy.py
index 8ba9d3d..edad55e 100644
--- a/erddapy/erddapy.py
+++ b/erddapy/erddapy.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Tuple, Union
 
 import pandas as pd
+import xarray as xr
 
 from erddapy.core.griddap import (
     _griddap_check_constraints,
@@ -367,7 +368,11 @@ def to_ncCF(self, protocol: str = None, **kw):
         url = self.get_download_url(response="ncCF", distinct=distinct)
         return to_ncCF(url, protocol=protocol, requests_kwargs=dict(**kw))
 
-    def to_xarray(self, **kw):
+    def to_xarray(
+            self,
+            requests_kwargs: Optional[Dict] = None,
+            **kw,
+    ) -> "xr.Dataset":
         """Load the data request into a xarray.Dataset.
 
         Accepts any `xr.open_dataset` keyword arguments.
@@ -380,7 +385,10 @@ def to_xarray(self, **kw):
             response = "ncCF"
         distinct = kw.pop("distinct", False)
         url = self.get_download_url(response=response, distinct=distinct)
-        requests_kwargs = {"auth": self.auth}
+        if requests_kwargs:
+            requests_kwargs = {"auth": self.auth} | requests_kwargs
+        else:
+            requests_kwargs = {"auth": self.auth}
         return to_xarray(url, response, requests_kwargs, xarray_kwargs=dict(**kw))
 
     def to_iris(self, **kw):