Funding Wizard

The US Geological Survey (USGS) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research on submarine and sublacustrine slope stability that will make use of newly collected sediment cores and high-resolution multibeam bathymetry and geophysical data from subduction zones. Specifically, seek to understand how the mechanical strength properties and source characteristics of marine and lake sediment influences slope stability along earthquake prone active margins through a cross-disciplinary collaboration. The USGS is interested in investigating the response of submarine and sublacustrine sediment to earthquake shaking by measuring the geomechanical properties of sediment samples collected along subduction zone margins and applying these parameters to numerical simulations of submarine/sublacustrine slope stability. Systematic characterization of seafloor/lakefloor sediments and comparison with submarine/sublacustrine landslide distribution will allow improved assessment of earthquake shaking proxies and ground motion hazard predictions. The goals of this study are part of the Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program (CMHRP) mission to identify and characterize coastal and marine geohazards (earthquakes, tsunamis, and landslides) and to develop probabilistic hazard assessments for the nation. In addition, results from this study will provide information and data valuable to the offshore wind energy industry as some of the study area falls within newly released lease areas.

U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Powell Center is offering a funding opportunity for research on “A National Topographic Change Mapping and Monitoring System.” The project will design a national scale mapping system to enable an ongoing nationwide assessment of multi-scale 3D changes in the Earth’s surface, both natural and anthropogenic in origin, and to demonstrate its functional capabilities for the science community. The working group will address all aspects needed for a comprehensive national topographic change mapping and monitoring capability, including data, change detection algorithms and standards, uncertainty, temporal and spatial scales, and applications. The result will be a conceptual model for a national topographic change system and the outline for an operational framework. Activities will include 1) assembly of multi-temporal remote sensing data and multi-temporal elevation data from different remote sensing platforms and historical records; 2) test and apply topographic change detection and quantification approaches; 3) evaluate the importance of spatial and temporal scales and how-to best address these in a topographic mapping and monitoring system; 4) produce data and tools, including a multi-scale continuously updated national 3D change map.

The US Geological Survey (USGS), Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research in the development of pre- and post-processing solutions for hydrodynamic modeling in the Greater Everglades. The USGS conducts ecological and hydrologic research and monitoring in support of Greater Everglades restoration efforts throughout South Florida, in conjunction with its Federal, State, and local partners. Research conducted by USGS scientists, and their research partners advances the understanding of the Greater Everglades restoration and the potential influence of environmental change on ecosystem restoration. USGS’s research provides valuable information which contributes to decision-making during restoration. The USGS is offering this opportunity to CESU partners with the capability to use computer programming code to design workflows for adjusting and visualizing the inputs and outputs of a hydrodynamic model designed by the USGS, the Biscayne and Southern Everglades Coastal Transport (BISECT) model.

The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research on resolving the uncertainty behind relationships between urban land covers and exposure to urban environmental hazards, such as extreme heat and poor air quality at the human-interaction scale. Urban exposure to extreme heat and poor air quality is linked to heightened morbidity and loss in wages. Moreover, these negative effects are hypothesized to be unequally distributed across income and racial groups. However, these linkages are often interpolated at larger scales, using satellite imagery, or decennial U.S. census demographic data, and there are very few datasets that capture land cover, urban microclimate, and direct effects on human behavior. With the rise of available high-resolution urban land cover data, along with the growing availability of low-cost microclimate sensor technology, projects can be designed to remove uncertainty in how land cover influences microclimate, how urban microclimate influences human behaviors, and whether those influences are stratified across demographic groups.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) is offering a funding opportunity to a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) partner for research to support the restoration of native coregonine fishes in the Great Lakes. Similar to many freshwater ecosystems, the Great Lakes of North America have undergone numerous anthropogenic stressors resulting in considerable loss of biodiversity and simplification or loss of habitat. The coregonine sub-family has endured the most extensive declines, including extinction for several species and multiple instances of local extirpations of other species. In 2018, a science-based, basin-wide approach to restore coregonines called the Coregonine Restoration Framework (herein, “Framework”) was universally endorsed by fishery managers throughout the basin. The Framework seeks to develop a restoration plan that includes several components of science support, including experimental and genetic approaches to improve our understanding of threats to existing stocks of conservation concern or impediments to reintroducing native fishes that were locally extirpated. Likewise, reintroduction will undoubtedly be required and is already being used, yet the ability to experimentally evaluate the best techniques for translocating or rearing and stocking hatchery fish is limited within the Great Lakes basin. Many of the species extirpated from Lake Ontario, for example, persist in Lake Superior yet the techniques to rear these rare deepwater fish could be further evaluated to ensure that hatchery products are genetically, morphologically, and behaviorally similar to their wild counterparts. This funding opportunity seeks a CESU partnership to provide experimental support to USGS stations located in Cortland, NY and Oswego, NY, such that science support to restoration and conservation of native coregonines can be enhanced.

The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research spatial analysis of mainstem riverine habitat of invasive Black Carp. Black Carp Mylopharyngodon piceus are an introduced species in North America with a rapidly expanding distribution within the Mississippi River basin. This species is anticipated to threaten native mollusk species due to a special adaptation of the pharyngeal process for crushing even thick-shelled mollusk prey. Scientists with the Columbia Environmental Research Center are actively relocating telemetry tagged Black Carp to identify habitat use and movement patterns throughout the year. To complement physical relocations of tagged Black Carp in statistical analysis of spatial ecology, bathymetric mapping of the mainstem Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers is required in combination with metrics describing proximity to wing dikes and other engineered river control structures and site specific bathymetric layers. This project consists of creating a seamless layer for the range described below.

The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program (EHP) issues this annual Announcement for assistance to support research in earthquake hazards, the physics of earthquakes, earthquake occurrence, and earthquake safety policy and address the Department of Interior’s Secretarial priorities. This activity is authorized by the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-124, 42 U.S.C. 7701 et. seq.), and as amended by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-307).

The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research that demonstrates an approach to impact analysis for the ARkStorm2.0 scenario and an approach to understanding barriers and solutions to using the ARkStorm2.0 scenario in resilience planning by levels of government. In addition, data management is needed to share publicly available data among cooperating project partners and for customized use by stakeholders including underrepresented communities.

This Program Announcement is issued under the provisions of section 104 of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-242), as amended by Public Laws 101-397, 104-147, 106-374, 109-471, and 117–58. Section 104 of the Water Resources Research Act directs the Secretary of the Interior to administer program grants to Institutes established under the provisions of section 104(a) of the Act. Water Resources Research Institutes have been established in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam. The Institute in Guam also serves the Federated States of Micronesia and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Institute in Hawaii also serves American Samoa. The addresses of the 54 Institutes are available at https://water.usgs.gov/wrri/index.php. Responsibility for administration of the Water Resources Research Act Program has been delegated to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

This Program Announcement is issued under the provisions of section 104 of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-242), as amended by Public Laws 101-397, 104-147, 106-374, 109-471, and 117–58. Section 104 of the Water Resources Research Act directs the Secretary of the Interior to administer program grants to Institutes established under the provisions of section 104(a) of the Act. Water Resources Research Institutes have been established in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam. The Institute in Guam also serves the Federated States of Micronesia and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Institute in Hawaii also serves American Samoa. The addresses of the 54 Institutes are available at https://water.usgs.gov/wrri/index.php. Responsibility for administration of the Water Resources Research Act Program has been delegated to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).