Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Basin CESU | G20AS00057

Opportunity Information: Apply for G20AS00057

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Basin CESU funding opportunity (Opportunity Number G20AS00057) is a USGS Water Mission Area research grant offered as a cooperative agreement to support work that improves how satellite-based evapotranspiration information is operationally used in national-scale water modeling. The core goal is to help the USGS move from simply having access to evapotranspiration products to being able to reliably and repeatedly pull those data from cloud platforms, compute useful summaries, and feed them into an operational hydrologic modeling framework that runs on a continuing basis rather than as a one-time study.

The scientific focus is on actual evapotranspiration (ETa), a key variable for understanding consumptive water use, especially in agriculture. In this context, ETa is being leveraged as the fundamental building block for estimating irrigation water use across the contiguous United States (CONUS). The work sits within the USGS Water Use Program and directly supports the National Water Census (NWC), which is aimed at improving national assessments of water availability and use. Because irrigation is one of the largest consumptive uses of water in many basins, improving ETa-driven irrigation estimates is central to producing better national water-use accounting.

A major element of the opportunity is applied research and development around cloud computing workflows that can provide operational access to ETa data products available through OpenET. OpenET is a platform that provides field-scale ETa estimates derived from several satellite-based algorithms. The announcement highlights the OpenET Water Management Tool specifically, noting its ability to generate area-weighted and time-averaged monthly ETa estimates across CONUS on a roughly six-week cycle. That production cadence is important because it supports recurring updates, which is a defining requirement for an operational model intended to stay current over time. The tool relies on the computational capabilities of Google Earth Engine (GEE), and the USGS is looking for CESU partner support to research and implement approaches that translate those cloud-based ETa resources into model-ready inputs and summaries.

The national irrigation modeling framework the USGS is developing is described as having three key design features. First, it emphasizes automated data retrieval for model inputs, meaning the system should be able to programmatically pull required datasets (like ETa summaries) without manual intervention. Second, it is designed to simulate daily water use, which implies the ETa-derived information must be compatible with daily time-step modeling and the associated data-handling demands. Third, it calls for periodic updating of simulations to provide current and forecasted results, so the workflows developed under this award need to support repeatable, scheduled reprocessing and re-ingestion of updated ETa estimates as new satellite information becomes available. In practical terms, the funded work is meant to help close the gap between cloud-hosted remote sensing products and an automated, continuously updating national model that can deliver timely irrigation water-use estimates.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity from the Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, categorized under Science and Technology and other Research and Development (CFDA 15.808). The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates substantial agency involvement during the project, such as collaboration on technical direction, milestones, data management, and integration into USGS operational systems. The expected outcome is not just analysis, but progress toward operational integration of OpenET-derived ETa summaries into a national hydrologic/irrigation water-use modeling enterprise.

The opportunity was created on May 6, 2020, with an original closing date of May 22, 2020. The award ceiling is $150,000, with one expected award. Eligibility is limited to CESU partners under the Great Basin CESU, reflected in the listing of eligible applicants as "Others" with further clarification referenced in the full announcement. Overall, the project is best understood as targeted support for developing scalable, cloud-enabled data access and summarization methods for satellite ETa that can power automated, frequently updated irrigation water-use estimates at the national level.

• The Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Basin 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 May 06, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 22, 2020. (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 $150,000.00 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 G20AS00057

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