Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Gulf Coast CESU | G17AS00038

Opportunity Information: Apply for G17AS00038

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Gulf Coast CESU opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G17AS00038) was a US Geological Survey (USGS) funding call issued through the Department of the Interior for a research-focused cooperative agreement. Released on February 6, 2017 and originally closing on February 21, 2017, it planned to make a single award with a maximum federal funding level (award ceiling) of $49,996. The program sits in the Science and Technology/Research and Development category (CFDA 15.808) and was listed as discretionary funding. Eligibility was described broadly as "Others," with details intended to be clarified in the opportunitys additional eligibility information, which commonly indicates participation through the CESU network or specific partner categories.

The core purpose of the project was to improve how groundwater change is quantified across the conterminous United States by integrating satellite-based observations from the GRACE mission (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) with ground-based measurements and modeling. GRACE observes changes in Earths gravity field that can be translated into changes in total water storage over large areas. That makes it powerful for regional to national assessments, but it does not directly measure groundwater alone. Because GRACE total water storage includes contributions from soil moisture, surface water, snow, and groundwater, the goal of the grant was to combine GRACE with on-the-ground data and established hydrologic methods so groundwater depletion signals can be isolated more confidently and mapped consistently at national scale.

A central deliverable implied by the description was a national map of groundwater depletion. To get there, the project emphasized several technical objectives. One objective was to quantify total water storage using multiple GRACE products, since different GRACE processing centers and methodological choices can produce somewhat different estimates. Along with comparing those products, the project called for estimating groundwater storage and explicitly characterizing uncertainties. Rather than attempting to treat the entire country uniformly, the grant focused detailed groundwater storage estimation on five major aquifer systems that are both hydrologically important and widely studied: the Central Valley, the Arizona Basin and Range, the High Plains, the Mississippi Embayment, and the Columbia Plateau. These aquifers span different climates, geology, and water-use pressures, which makes them useful testbeds for evaluating how well GRACE and ground observations can be reconciled.

Another major objective was to quantify groundwater storage changes using groundwater level monitoring data and to connect those observations to regional and national modeling analyses. In practice, that means using water-level measurements from monitoring wells (and related hydrogeologic information such as storage properties) to estimate changes in groundwater storage over time, then comparing or blending those estimates with model-based results. This dual approach matters because monitoring networks provide direct, local evidence of change, while models can fill gaps in space and time, simulate processes consistently, and support extrapolation to broader regions where monitoring data are sparse.

The final objective tied the whole effort to improved interpretation and application of GRACE results, with an explicit link to the USGS National Groundwater Model. The opportunity highlighted integrating GRACE and ground-based data to sharpen the meaning of GRACE-derived total water storage changes, which can otherwise be difficult to attribute to specific hydrologic compartments. By improving attribution and uncertainty estimates, the work was positioned to potentially inform improvements in groundwater model storage parameters, a key set of inputs that control how models translate stresses like pumping and recharge into changes in groundwater levels and storage. In other words, the project was not only about producing a map, but also about strengthening the scientific bridge between satellite gravimetry, field measurements, and large-scale groundwater modeling so national assessments of groundwater depletion become more defensible and more useful for future analysis.

• The Department of the Interior, Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Gulf Coast CESU" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 06, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 21, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $49,996.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for G17AS00038

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: