Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Piedmont South Atlantic Coast (CESU) | G18AS00013

Opportunity Information: Apply for G18AS00013

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Piedmont South Atlantic Coast (CESU) funding opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G18AS00013) was issued by the Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), through the John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis. It is a discretionary research award offered as a cooperative agreement, with the work falling under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category (CFDA 15.808). The opportunity was created on December 6, 2017, with an original closing date of December 21, 2017, and it anticipated making a single award with a maximum federal amount (award ceiling) of $50,000.

The purpose of the grant is to support a systematic, global-scale analysis of how land-surface hydrologic fluxes vary across space and time in both natural watersheds and watersheds that have been altered by human activity. In practice, this means examining the key components of the watershed water balance and related energy-flux outcomes, especially streamflow and evapotranspiration, and doing so in a way that can be compared consistently across many regions worldwide. A central theme is distinguishing and interpreting the signatures of human influence on hydrology, such as changes in streamflow patterns caused by regulation or withdrawals, and changes in evapotranspiration that can contribute to urban heat island effects or reflect irrigation and land-use shifts. The project emphasizes using global datasets so the resulting analysis and methods can be applied broadly rather than being limited to a single basin or region.

A major technical focus is the Budyko framework, a widely used conceptual and analytical approach that relates long-term water and energy availability to partitioning of precipitation into evapotranspiration and runoff. The opportunity calls for evaluating existing Budyko relationships to see how well they explain observed spatial variability in hydroclimatology at seasonal and annual timescales. Beyond assessment, it also seeks to quantify how sensitive land-surface fluxes are to changes in both climate drivers (like precipitation and potential evapotranspiration) and land-surface controls (such as vegetation, soils, and human modifications) at the global scale. This sensitivity analysis is intended to clarify which factors most strongly influence differences in hydrologic behavior among watersheds and how those influences may shift over time.

Another key objective is to extend the Budyko "supply-to-demand" framework so it can more explicitly account for additional human fingerprints that traditional formulations may not capture well. On the streamflow side, this includes flow alterations associated with dams, diversions, groundwater pumping, and other management actions that change not only the amount of flow but also its timing and variability. On the evapotranspiration side, it includes effects tied to urbanization (and associated heat island dynamics), irrigation, and land-use change, all of which can alter surface energy balance and water consumption in ways that diverge from what would be expected under natural conditions. The intent is not simply to note that human activity matters, but to develop an analytical structure that relates measurable anthropogenic pressures and outcomes to deviations from baseline hydroclimatic behavior using consistent global data sources.

Finally, the opportunity aims to synthesize the combined influence of large-scale climate patterns and local-to-regional human activities on watershed-level hydroclimatology. This synthesis component suggests an integrative outcome: connecting broad climatic controls that operate over continents or climate zones with more localized human drivers that can dominate within individual basins. The expected result is a clearer, more transferable understanding of how natural hydroclimatic variability and human alteration interact to shape streamflow and evapotranspiration patterns worldwide, along with an improved framework for estimating land-surface fluxes in watersheds where human influence is significant.

• 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, Piedmont South Atlantic 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 Dec 06, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Dec 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 $50,000.00 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).

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