diff --git a/deploy/conda-dev-spec.template b/deploy/conda-dev-spec.template
index 547e1a4a7..5ec77dc17 100644
--- a/deploy/conda-dev-spec.template
+++ b/deploy/conda-dev-spec.template
@@ -21,12 +21,12 @@ lxml
 {% if include_mache %}
 mache={{ mache }}
 {% endif %}
-matplotlib-base >=3.6.0,!=3.7.2
+matplotlib-base>=3.9.0
 metis={{ metis }}
 mpas_tools={{ mpas_tools }}
 nco
 netcdf4=*=nompi_*
-numpy
+numpy>=2.0,<3.0
 {% if supports_otps %}
 otps={{ otps }}
 {% endif %}
diff --git a/deploy/default.cfg b/deploy/default.cfg
index 0b0014011..4c0c922b2 100644
--- a/deploy/default.cfg
+++ b/deploy/default.cfg
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ mpi = nompi
 # versions of conda packages
 geometric_features = 1.2.0
 mache = 1.19.0
-mpas_tools = 0.27.0
+mpas_tools = 0.34.1
 otps = 2021.10
 parallelio = 2.6.0
 
diff --git a/e3sm_submodules/E3SM-Project b/e3sm_submodules/E3SM-Project
index 4fb8eddcf..1fb279e59 160000
--- a/e3sm_submodules/E3SM-Project
+++ b/e3sm_submodules/E3SM-Project
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 4fb8eddcf457d18d5619dd4a1c4785ed7c45f725
+Subproject commit 1fb279e59d0d4d9fcae708fdba80615d0c516319
diff --git a/polaris/version.py b/polaris/version.py
index 82b0b9b38..9552fa7bf 100644
--- a/polaris/version.py
+++ b/polaris/version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = '0.3.0-alpha.1'
+__version__ = '0.3.0-alpha.2'
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index f1e48bd2f..ef3936ce1 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ install_requires =
     jigsawpy
     jupyter
     lxml
-    matplotlib>=3.6.0,!=3.7.2
+    matplotlib>=3.9.0
     netcdf4
-    numpy
+    numpy>=2.0,<3.0
     progressbar2
     pyamg>=4.2.2
     pyproj