diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index ef4056fb..27f92b3c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -90,6 +90,10 @@ Breaking changes
 Deprecations
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
+- The function `mesmer.utils.select.extract_time_period` is now deprecated and will be
+  removed in a future version. Please raise an issue if you use this function (`#243
+  <https://github.com/MESMER-group/mesmer/pull/243>`_). By `Mathias Hauser
+  <https://github.com/mathause>`_.
 
 Bug fixes
 ^^^^^^^^^
diff --git a/mesmer/utils/select.py b/mesmer/utils/select.py
index e3a8f771..e3a3e103 100644
--- a/mesmer/utils/select.py
+++ b/mesmer/utils/select.py
@@ -104,12 +104,12 @@ def extract_land(var, reg_dict=None, wgt=None, ls=None, threshold_land=0.25):
     return var_l, {}, ls
 
 
-def extract_time_period(var, time, start, end):
+def extract_time_period(data, time, start, end):
     """Extract selected time period.
 
     Parameters
     ----------
-    var : np.ndarray
+    data : np.ndarray
         variable in 1-4d array
 
         - (time);
@@ -139,17 +139,15 @@ def extract_time_period(var, time, start, end):
 
     """
 
-    # find index of start and end of time period
-    idx_start = np.where(time == int(start))[0][0]
-    idx_end = np.where(time == int(end))[0][0] + 1  # to include the end year
+    warnings.warn(
+        "`extract_time_period` is deprecated in v0.9.0 and will be remove in a future "
+        "version. Please raise an issue if you still use this function.",
+        FutureWarning,
+    )
 
-    # extract time period from variable dictionary
-    if len(var.shape) > 1:
-        var_tp = var[:, idx_start:idx_end]
-    else:
-        var_tp = var[idx_start:idx_end]
+    sel = (time >= start) & (time <= end)
 
-    # extract time period from time vector
-    time_tp = time[idx_start:idx_end]
+    time = time[sel]
+    data = data[:, sel, ...] if data.ndim > 1 else data[sel]
 
-    return var_tp, time_tp
+    return data, time
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_extract_time_period.py b/tests/unit/test_extract_time_period.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..56679293
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_extract_time_period.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+import numpy as np
+import pytest
+
+from mesmer.utils.select import extract_time_period
+
+
+def test_extract_time_period_deprecation():
+
+    time = np.arange(1950, 2050)
+
+    data = np.linspace(0, 1, time.size)
+
+    with pytest.warns(FutureWarning, match="`extract_time_period` is deprecated"):
+        extract_time_period(data, time, 1955, 2005)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.filterwarnings("ignore:`extract_time_period` is deprecated")
+def test_extract_time_period_1D():
+
+    time = np.arange(1950, 2050)
+
+    data = np.linspace(0, 1, time.size)
+
+    result_data, result_time = extract_time_period(data, time, 1955, 2005)
+
+    expected_data = data[5 : 5 + 50 + 1]
+    expected_time = np.arange(1955, 2005 + 1)
+
+    np.testing.assert_equal(result_data, expected_data)
+    np.testing.assert_equal(result_time, expected_time)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.filterwarnings("ignore:`extract_time_period` is deprecated")
+def test_extract_time_period_2D():
+
+    time = np.arange(1900, 2000)
+
+    data = np.arange(3 * time.size).reshape(3, -1)
+
+    result_data, result_time = extract_time_period(data, time, 1911, 1995)
+
+    expected_data = data[:, 11 : 95 + 1]
+    expected_time = np.arange(1911, 1995 + 1)
+
+    np.testing.assert_equal(result_data, expected_data)
+    np.testing.assert_equal(result_time, expected_time)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.filterwarnings("ignore:`extract_time_period` is deprecated")
+def test_extract_time_period_3D():
+
+    time = np.arange(1900, 2000)
+
+    # (run, time, gridpoint)
+    data = np.arange(3 * 5 * time.size).reshape(3, -1, 5)
+
+    result_data, result_time = extract_time_period(data, time, 1911, 1995)
+
+    expected_data = data[:, 11 : 95 + 1, :]
+    expected_time = np.arange(1911, 1995 + 1)
+
+    np.testing.assert_equal(result_data, expected_data)
+    np.testing.assert_equal(result_time, expected_time)