Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Plains Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G23AS00157

Opportunity Information: Apply for G23AS00157

This opportunity is a US Geological Survey (USGS) cooperative agreement aimed at advancing how cosmic ray neutron sensing (CRNS) data are processed and used for hydrologic monitoring. It comes out of the USGS Water Mission Area (WMA) Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) initiative, which is focused on modernizing water observing networks and improving the way key hydrologic variables are measured across landscapes. The specific technical emphasis here is CRNS technology for estimating soil water content (SWC) and snow water equivalent (SWE), two measurements that are central to understanding drought, flood potential, runoff generation, and water availability.

The core need driving the grant is not simply deploying more CRNS instruments, but fixing a practical bottleneck that affects both day-to-day operations and research reproducibility: inconsistent and opaque data processing. USGS notes that current CRNS processing workflows are largely driven by the equipment vendor, while USGS researchers would prefer a more hands-on, open, and transparent approach that they can understand, document, and adapt. Because CRNS measurements require multiple corrections, calibrations, and assumptions to translate neutron counts into SWC or SWE, differences in processing choices can lead to inconsistent results across sites, projects, or instrument types. The agency is therefore seeking research and development that results in a functional, standardized processing workflow that can be applied consistently to both stationary CRNS networks and portable (synoptic survey) CRNS campaigns. In practical terms, the desired outcome is a clearer, repeatable pipeline for handling raw CRNS observations through to final hydrologic products, with better documentation and transparency for the broader water monitoring community.

This work is closely tied to ongoing NGWOS efforts already underway in several locations. USGS describes three main areas of current CRNS activity: evaluation of stationary CRNS installations at innovation testbeds in Pennsylvania, California, and Colorado; deployment of a dense CRNS network along a tributary to the Upper Colorado River; and development of field experiments that rely on portable CRNS surveys to map conditions across space. The cooperative agreement is intended to strengthen and unify the way data from all of those efforts are processed so results can be compared more directly and scaled up for operational monitoring. By improving standardization, the project would support USGS goals of integrating CRNS into its broader hydrologic monitoring infrastructure, whether through fixed stations that continuously observe conditions or rapid, mobile surveys that capture spatial patterns.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity offered by the USGS under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) mechanism, specifically tied to the Great Plains Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit. That eligibility requirement is central: applicants must be participating partners in the Great Plains CESU program, which is a federal partnership framework designed to facilitate collaborative research, technical assistance, and education between agencies and partner institutions. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which generally signals that USGS expects substantial involvement during the project (for example, collaboration on technical direction, data standards, testing, or integration with USGS systems), rather than a more hands-off grant relationship.

Key opportunity details provided include the funding opportunity number G23AS00157, CFDA number 15.808, and an award ceiling of $350,000. The agency listed is the Geological Survey (USGS). The posting was created on 2023-01-12 with an original closing date of 2023-02-13. The activity category is Science and Technology and other Research and Development. Overall, the project is best understood as an applied R and D effort to produce an open, consistent, and usable CRNS data processing workflow that improves reliability and comparability of SWC and SWE estimates across NGWOS testbeds, dense monitoring networks, and portable survey applications.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Plains Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" 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 2023-01-12.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-02-13. (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 $350,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G23AS00157

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