diff --git a/pyaerocom/aeroval/coldatatojson_helpers.py b/pyaerocom/aeroval/coldatatojson_helpers.py
index a5d2bde1f..7c1be61f4 100644
--- a/pyaerocom/aeroval/coldatatojson_helpers.py
+++ b/pyaerocom/aeroval/coldatatojson_helpers.py
@@ -1457,7 +1457,7 @@ def _process_statistics_timeseries(
     return output
 
 
-def _get_jsdate(nparr):
+def _get_jsdate(nparr: np.ndarray):
     dt = nparr.astype("datetime64[s]")
     offs = np.datetime64("1970", "s")
     return (dt - offs).astype(int) * 1000
diff --git a/pyaerocom/aeroval/modelmaps_engine.py b/pyaerocom/aeroval/modelmaps_engine.py
index c90b05a74..d384397f8 100644
--- a/pyaerocom/aeroval/modelmaps_engine.py
+++ b/pyaerocom/aeroval/modelmaps_engine.py
@@ -224,13 +224,15 @@ def _process_contour_map_var(self, model_name, var, reanalyse_existing):  # prag
         contourjson = calc_contour_json(data, cmap=varinfo.cmap, cmap_bins=varinfo.cmap_bins)
 
         with self.avdb.lock():
-            self.avdb.put_contour(
-                contourjson,
-                self.exp_output.proj_id,
-                self.exp_output.exp_id,
-                var,
-                model_name,
-            )
+            for time, contour in contourjson.items():
+                self.avdb.put_contour(
+                    contour,
+                    self.exp_output.proj_id,
+                    self.exp_output.exp_id,
+                    var,
+                    model_name,
+                    timestep=time,
+                )
 
         return fp_geojson
 
diff --git a/pyaerocom/aeroval/modelmaps_helpers.py b/pyaerocom/aeroval/modelmaps_helpers.py
index 4e6b294ab..65591d718 100644
--- a/pyaerocom/aeroval/modelmaps_helpers.py
+++ b/pyaerocom/aeroval/modelmaps_helpers.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 OVERLAY = "overlay"
 
 
-def _jsdate_list(data):
+def _jsdate_list(data: GriddedData | xarray.DataArray):
     tst = TsType(data.ts_type)
     if isinstance(data, GriddedData):
         start_yr = data.start
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ def _jsdate_list(data):
         start_yr = pd.Timestamp(data.time.min().values).year
         stop_yr = pd.Timestamp(data.time.max().values).year
     else:
-        raise ValueError("data not correct type")
+        raise ValueError(f"data is of type {type(data)}, expected GriddedData or DataArray.")
     idx = make_datetime_index(start_yr, stop_yr, tst.to_pandas_freq())
     return _get_jsdate(idx.values).tolist()
 
@@ -140,13 +140,6 @@ def calc_contour_json(data: GriddedData, cmap: str, cmap_bins: list[float]):
         )
         geojsons[str(date)] = geojson
 
-    geojsons["legend"] = {
-        "colors": colors_hex,
-        "levels": list(cmap_bins),
-        "var_name": data.var_name,
-        "units": str(data.units),
-    }
-
     return geojsons
 
 
diff --git a/pyaerocom_env.yml b/pyaerocom_env.yml
index 956ffb5c2..93ae88e41 100644
--- a/pyaerocom_env.yml
+++ b/pyaerocom_env.yml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ dependencies:
   - pip:
     - geocoder_reverse_natural_earth >= 0.0.2
     - pyaro >= 0.1.1
-    - aerovaldb >= 0.1.1
+    - aerovaldb >= 0.2.1
 ## testing
   - pytest >=7.4
   - pytest-dependency
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index ff588b410..e3456f146 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -222,6 +222,7 @@ deps =
     # Will only run on lowest supported Python version CI test 
     # (currently 3.10).
     # Should be incremented when changing dependencies above.  
+    aerovaldb ==0.2.1; python_version < "3.11"
     scitools-iris ==3.11.0; python_version < "3.11"
     cartopy ==0.21.1; python_version < "3.11"
     matplotlib ==3.7.1; python_version < "3.11"