diff --git a/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/data_extraction_era5_template.sh b/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/data_extraction_era5_template.sh
index d4741e796c2762d8056204bc36e21655af1e70dd..f2a3415cc01ef993b298deef447a368ed1b4bee5 100644
--- a/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/data_extraction_era5_template.sh
+++ b/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/data_extraction_era5_template.sh
@@ -39,11 +39,11 @@ source_dir=/my/path/to/era5
 destination_dir=/my/path/to/extracted/data
 varmap_file=/my/path/to/varmapping/file
 
-years=( "2015" )
+years=$(seq 2007 2020)
 
 # Run data extraction
-for year in "${years[@]}"; do
+for year in ${years}; do
   echo "Perform ERA5-data extraction for year ${year}"
   srun python ../main_scripts/main_data_extraction.py  --source_dir ${source_dir} --target_dir ${destination_dir} \
-                                                       --year ${year} --varslist_path ${varmap_file}
+                                                       --year "${year}" --varslist_path ${varmap_file}
 done
diff --git a/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/preprocess_data_era5_step1_template.sh b/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/preprocess_data_era5_step1_template.sh
index 990095c1f5fa00e4058e08d355830e0fa620b0f3..3e48cbadf48f65f9c1753a76590d47baff059b14 100644
--- a/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/preprocess_data_era5_step1_template.sh
+++ b/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/preprocess_data_era5_step1_template.sh
@@ -36,10 +36,10 @@ source ../env_setup/modules_preprocess+extract.sh
 
 
 # select years and variables for dataset and define target domain 
-years=( "2015" )
-variables=( "t2" "t2" "t2" )
-sw_corner=( -999.9 -999.9)
-nyx=( -999 -999 )
+years=$(seq 2007 2020)
+variables=( "t2" "t_850" "tcc" )
+sw_corner=( 38.4 0.0 )
+nyx=( 56 92 )
 
 # set some paths
 # note, that destination_dir is adjusted during runtime based on the data
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ source_dir=/my/path/to/extracted/data/
 destination_dir=/my/path/to/pickle/files
 
 # execute Python-scripts
-for year in "${years[@]}"; do
+for year in ${years}; do
   echo "start preprocessing data for year ${year}"
 	srun python ../main_scripts/main_preprocess_data_step1.py \
         --source_dir ${source_dir} --destination_dir ${destination_dir} --years "${year}" \
diff --git a/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/preprocess_data_era5_step2_template.sh b/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/preprocess_data_era5_step2_template.sh
index daa48d352ce6b1eca9c2f76692e68ca3e786273e..0c01282c5d83eb59a8bb0744165bbaddcbd4d72d 100644
--- a/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/preprocess_data_era5_step2_template.sh
+++ b/video_prediction_tools/HPC_scripts/preprocess_data_era5_step2_template.sh
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ module purge
 source_dir=/my/path/to/pkl/files/
 destination_dir=/my/path/to/tfrecords/files
 
-sequence_length=20
+sequence_length=24
 sequences_per_file=10
 # run Preprocessing (step 2 where Tf-records are generated)
 export CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0
diff --git a/video_prediction_tools/data_preprocess/era5_varmapping_template.json b/video_prediction_tools/data_preprocess/era5_varmapping_template.json
index d4aa1d16a18c50b37b42a3a8cd89c8da80214155..96f422091bb708f4ca4c01a473cc82d722283296 100644
--- a/video_prediction_tools/data_preprocess/era5_varmapping_template.json
+++ b/video_prediction_tools/data_preprocess/era5_varmapping_template.json
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 #              The value of the 'pl'-key denotes the pressure level (in Pa) onto which the data is interpolated
 #              !!! This file should be only adapted if you are familiar with the ERA5 grib files!!!
 {
-"surface": ["2t", "tcc","msl","10u","10v"],
+"surface": ["2t", "tcc", "msl","10u","10v"],
 
 "multi":{
     "t" : {