diff --git a/clouddrift/analysis.py b/clouddrift/analysis.py
index 9eec9312..5579bb0e 100644
--- a/clouddrift/analysis.py
+++ b/clouddrift/analysis.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ def apply_ragged(
     arrays: list[np.ndarray],
     rowsize: list[int],
     *args: tuple,
+    rows: Union[int, Iterable[int]] = None,
     executor: futures.Executor = futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=None),
     **kwargs: dict,
 ) -> Union[tuple[np.ndarray], np.ndarray]:
@@ -45,6 +46,9 @@ def apply_ragged(
         List of integers specifying the number of data points in each row.
     *args : tuple
         Additional arguments to pass to ``func``.
+    rows : int or Iterable[int], optional
+        The row(s) of the ragged array to apply ``func`` to. If ``rows`` is
+        ``None`` (default), then ``func`` will be applied to all rows.
     executor : concurrent.futures.Executor, optional
         Executor to use for concurrent execution. Default is ``ThreadPoolExecutor``
         with the default number of ``max_workers``.
@@ -72,6 +76,15 @@ def apply_ragged(
     array([1., 1., 2., 2., 2., 3., 3., 3., 3.]),
     array([1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1.]))
 
+    To apply ``func`` to only a subset of rows, use the ``rows`` argument:
+
+    >>> u1, v1 = apply_ragged(velocity_from_position, [x, y, t], rowsize, rows=0, coord_system="cartesian")
+    array([1., 1.]),
+    array([1., 1.]))
+    >>> u1, v1 = apply_ragged(velocity_from_position, [x, y, t], rowsize, rows=[0, 1], coord_system="cartesian")
+    array([1., 1., 2., 2., 2.]),
+    array([1., 1., 1., 1., 1.]))
+
     Raises
     ------
     ValueError
@@ -88,7 +101,7 @@ def apply_ragged(
             raise ValueError("The sum of rowsize must equal the length of arr.")
 
     # split the array(s) into trajectories
-    arrays = [unpack_ragged(arr, rowsize) for arr in arrays]
+    arrays = [unpack_ragged(arr, rowsize, rows) for arr in arrays]
     iter = [[arrays[i][j] for i in range(len(arrays))] for j in range(len(arrays[0]))]
 
     # parallel execution
@@ -1088,7 +1101,9 @@ def subset(
 
 
 def unpack_ragged(
-    ragged_array: np.ndarray, rowsize: np.ndarray[int]
+    ragged_array: np.ndarray,
+    rowsize: np.ndarray[int],
+    rows: Union[int, Iterable[int]] = None,
 ) -> list[np.ndarray]:
     """Unpack a ragged array into a list of regular arrays.
 
@@ -1103,6 +1118,8 @@ def unpack_ragged(
     rowsize : array-like
         An array of integers whose values is the size of each row in the ragged
         array
+    rows : int or Iterable[int], optional
+        A row or list of rows to unpack. Default is None, which unpacks all rows.
 
     Returns
     -------
@@ -1119,6 +1136,8 @@ def unpack_ragged(
 
         lon = unpack_ragged(ds.lon, ds["rowsize"]) # return a list[xr.DataArray] (slower)
         lon = unpack_ragged(ds.lon.values, ds["rowsize"]) # return a list[np.ndarray] (faster)
+        first_lon = unpack_ragged(ds.lon.values, ds["rowsize"], rows=0) # return only the first row
+        first_two_lons = unpack_ragged(ds.lon.values, ds["rowsize"], rows=[0, 1]) # return first two rows
 
     Looping over trajectories in a ragged Xarray Dataset to compute velocities
     for each:
@@ -1133,4 +1152,10 @@ def unpack_ragged(
             u, v = velocity_from_position(lon, lat, time)
     """
     indices = rowsize_to_index(rowsize)
-    return [ragged_array[indices[n] : indices[n + 1]] for n in range(indices.size - 1)]
+
+    if rows is None:
+        rows = range(indices.size - 1)
+    if isinstance(rows, int):
+        rows = [rows]
+
+    return [ragged_array[indices[n] : indices[n + 1]] for n in rows]
diff --git a/tests/analysis_tests.py b/tests/analysis_tests.py
index 2c8af5a2..89244359 100644
--- a/tests/analysis_tests.py
+++ b/tests/analysis_tests.py
@@ -739,6 +739,23 @@ def test_velocity_ndarray(self):
                 )
             )
 
+    def test_with_rows(self):
+        y = apply_ragged(
+            lambda x: x**2,
+            np.array([1, 2, 3, 4]),
+            [2, 2],
+            rows=0,
+        )
+        self.assertTrue(np.all(y == np.array([1, 4])))
+
+        y = apply_ragged(
+            lambda x: x**2,
+            np.array([1, 2, 3, 4]),
+            [2, 2],
+            rows=[0, 1],
+        )
+        self.assertTrue(np.all(y == np.array([1, 4, 9, 16])))
+
     def test_velocity_dataarray(self):
         for executor in [futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(), futures.ProcessPoolExecutor()]:
             u, v = apply_ragged(
@@ -891,13 +908,32 @@ def test_unpack_ragged(self):
             np.all([lon[n].size == ds["rowsize"][n] for n in range(len(lon))])
         )
 
+    def test_unpack_ragged_rows(self):
+        ds = sample_ragged_array().to_xarray()
+        x = ds.lon.values
+        rowsize = ds.rowsize.values
 
-class rowsize_to_index_tests(unittest.TestCase):
-    def test_rowsize_to_index(self):
-        rowsize = [2, 3, 4]
-        expected = np.array([0, 2, 5, 9])
-        self.assertTrue(np.all(rowsize_to_index(rowsize) == expected))
-        self.assertTrue(np.all(rowsize_to_index(np.array(rowsize)) == expected))
         self.assertTrue(
-            np.all(rowsize_to_index(xr.DataArray(data=rowsize)) == expected)
+            all(
+                np.array_equal(a, b)
+                for a, b in zip(
+                    unpack_ragged(x, rowsize, None), unpack_ragged(x, rowsize)
+                )
+            )
+        )
+        self.assertTrue(
+            all(
+                np.array_equal(a, b)
+                for a, b in zip(
+                    unpack_ragged(x, rowsize, 0), unpack_ragged(x, rowsize)[:1]
+                )
+            )
+        )
+        self.assertTrue(
+            all(
+                np.array_equal(a, b)
+                for a, b in zip(
+                    unpack_ragged(x, rowsize, [0, 1]), unpack_ragged(x, rowsize)[:2]
+                )
+            )
         )