diff --git a/.github/dependabot.yml b/.github/dependabot.yml
index 563dd9b..204a481 100644
--- a/.github/dependabot.yml
+++ b/.github/dependabot.yml
@@ -9,3 +9,7 @@ updates:
       interval: "daily"
     labels:
       - "Bot"
+    groups:
+      github-actions:
+        patterns:
+          - '*'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index e6afae1..1ffc334 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python-version: ["3.8", "3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12"]
+        python-version: [ "3.8", "3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12" ]
         os: [windows-latest, ubuntu-latest, macos-latest]
       fail-fast: false
 
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index ddfd7e3..e5cadad 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ repos:
         - requirements-dev.txt
 
 - repo: https://github.com/astral-sh/ruff-pre-commit
-  rev: v0.4.8
+  rev: v0.4.9
   hooks:
     - id: ruff
 
diff --git a/pocean/dsg/trajectoryProfile/cr.py b/pocean/dsg/trajectoryProfile/cr.py
index 89b858e..7ce50a3 100644
--- a/pocean/dsg/trajectoryProfile/cr.py
+++ b/pocean/dsg/trajectoryProfile/cr.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
     get_ncdata_from_series,
     nativize_times,
     normalize_countable_array,
+    upscale_int8,
 )
 
 
@@ -323,6 +324,7 @@ def to_dataframe(self, clean_cols=True, clean_rows=True, **kwargs):
             df_data[dnam] = vdata
 
         df = pd.DataFrame(df_data)
+        df = upscale_int8(df)
 
         # Drop all data columns with no data
         if clean_cols:
diff --git a/pocean/tests/test_utils.py b/pocean/tests/test_utils.py
index 75fd097..ceb7e45 100644
--- a/pocean/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/pocean/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ def test_generic_masked_bad_min_max_value(self):
             # to make sure it doesn't error
             b = ncd.createVariable('imabyte', 'b')
             b.valid_min = 0
-            b.valid_max = 600  # this is over a byte and thus invalid
+            b.valid_max = np.int16(600)  # this is over a byte and thus invalid
             b[:] = 3
             r = generic_masked(b[:], attrs=ncd.vatts(b.name))
             assert np.all(r.mask == False)  # noqa
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ def test_normalization_of_string_arrays_netcdf4(self):
 
             # Single str (no dimension)
             ncd.createVariable('single_str', str)
-            ncd.createVariable('single_unicode_', np.unicode_)
+            ncd.createVariable('single_unicode_', np.str_)
             ncd.createVariable('single_U', '<U1')
             ncd.createVariable('single_S', 'S1', ('n',))
 
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ def test_normalization_of_string_arrays_netcdf4(self):
 
             # Array of str
             ncd.createVariable('many_str', str, ('n',))
-            ncd.createVariable('many_unicode_', np.unicode_, ('n',))
+            ncd.createVariable('many_unicode_', np.str_, ('n',))
             ncd.createVariable('many_U', '<U1', ('n',))
             ncd.createVariable('many_S', 'S1', ('n', 'n',))
 
diff --git a/pocean/utils.py b/pocean/utils.py
index ef32bc1..06b5b51 100644
--- a/pocean/utils.py
+++ b/pocean/utils.py
@@ -458,6 +458,13 @@ def dict_update(d, u):
     return d
 
 
+def upscale_int8(df):
+    """Numpy 2.0 no linger upcast dtypes.
+    In order to preserve the data's original dtype we upcast it here after reading it.
+
+    """
+    return df.astype({col: "int16" for col in df.columns[df.dtypes == "int8"]})
+
 class JSONEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
 
     def default(self, obj):