Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with North Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G24AS00258

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the funding opportunity number for this award?

The Funding Opportunity Number is G24AS00258.

Which federal agency is offering this opportunity?

This opportunity is offered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Which USGS center is managing the opportunity?

The opportunity is being offered through the USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK).

What program is this opportunity associated with?

It sits under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, which supports collaborations that deliver research, technical assistance, and education.

What kind of funding instrument is being used?

The competition uses a cooperative agreement instrument.

What does it mean that this is a cooperative agreement?

A cooperative agreement indicates USGS is expected to have substantial involvement in the work, rather than providing a hands-off award.

Is this opportunity competitive or automatic?

The notice describes the competition as discretionary.

What is the main scientific focus of the project?

The project focuses on improving understanding of how climate change is reshaping snowpack characteristics and avalanche behavior.

Why does the notice emphasize wet snow avalanches?

The notice highlights a growing risk of wet snow avalanches under a warming climate and notes that wet snow avalanches are increasingly relevant to public safety while remaining relatively poorly understood compared to other avalanche types.

How does climate change potentially affect avalanche regimes according to the notice?

The description suggests avalanche regimes may shift from traditionally colder, drier conditions toward warmer, wetter conditions, which can change how often avalanches occur, how large they become, how destructive they are, and where they are most likely to happen.

What kinds of outcomes or projections are expected from the work?

A central implied deliverable is forward-looking projections of future changes in snowpack properties, avalanche frequency, and avalanche character.

What prior USGS work will this project build on?

The proposed work will build on existing USGS research, including recent regional avalanche-dendrochronology (tree-ring evidence used to reconstruct past avalanche activity) and snowpack modeling efforts led by the USGS principal investigator E. Peitzsch.

How might the project use remote sensing?

The notice indicates the project will likely include remote sensing support for snowpack property characterization.

What does the notice mean by changes in "avalanche character"?

Examples provided include changes in avalanche type, timing, magnitude, and wetness.

Does the opportunity address landscape or terrain impacts from avalanches?

Yes. It highlights spatial landscape change associated with large-magnitude or extreme avalanche events and suggests an emphasis on mapping and understanding how terrain-level patterns and impacts may evolve across regions.

What is the overarching research question stated in the notice?

The stated question is: how will snowpack properties and avalanche frequency and character change across space and time in the future, and what primary drivers explain the variability.

What does the notice mean by identifying "primary drivers" of variability?

In practical terms, it involves identifying which climate variables and snowpack metrics are most responsible for observed and projected changes, and how those relationships differ by location and through time.

How is this work connected to decision-making and applied needs?

The notice connects the research to applied decision-making for water resource managers who need better information to plan for declining snowpacks and strengthen community resilience.

Is the project framed only as hazard science, or does it also relate to water and climate planning?

It is positioned at the intersection of hazard science (avalanches) and water/climate adaptation planning (snowpack as a water storage reservoir).

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is restricted to partners affiliated with the North Atlantic Coast CESU Program.

Is the CESU requirement an administrative limitation or tied to the scientific topic?

The notice makes the administrative requirement clear: applicants must be participating partners of the North Atlantic Coast CESU, which is a standard CESU limitation intended to keep awards within the established network of partner institutions.

What is the CFDA number listed for this opportunity?

The CFDA number is 15.808.

What is the activity category for this opportunity?

The activity category is Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

What is the maximum award amount (award ceiling)?

The award ceiling is $130,000.

When was the opportunity created?

The opportunity was created on February 21, 2024.

What was the original closing date?

The original closing date was March 21, 2024.