Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Colorado Plateau CESU | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Colorado Plateau CESU opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G15AS00113) is a USGS Western Geographic Science Center (WGSC) cooperative agreement meant to fund a single CESU partner to develop and refine satellite-based methods for mapping mudflats in a specific study area referred to as the SBSPRP study area. The core purpose is practical and management-driven: USGS wants defensible, repeatable mapping tools that can establish a baseline map of mudflat extent, measure how that extent changes over a five-year period, and produce information that aligns with the SBSPRP Adaptive Management Plan requirements. In other words, this is not just general research; it is targeted method development that USGS monitoring and research teams can use directly for ongoing assessment and decision support.

The work has two main technical objectives. First, the selected partner will support mapping the baseline extent of mudflats across the SBSPRP study area and then quantify changes relative to that baseline over a five-year timeframe. This implies developing a workflow that can be applied consistently across multiple image dates so that change estimates are meaningful and not simply artifacts of different processing choices, tides, turbidity, or seasonal conditions. Second, the project aims to map Net Primary Productivity (often discussed as biomass or NPP) of mudflat biofilm using multispectral satellite data. The intent behind that second objective is ecological: mudflat biofilms can be a key food resource for waterbirds, so spatially explicit estimates of biofilm productivity would help explore patterns of foraging habitat and resource availability.

A notable technical emphasis in the announcement is the need to overcome common remote-sensing challenges associated with mapping mudflats in shallow water. Mudflat environments frequently sit at the land-water boundary where conditions change quickly with tides, wind-driven water levels, and suspended sediments, and where standard classification approaches can struggle to separate shallow water from exposed wet sediment. To address that, the partner is expected to develop image processing methods that specifically leverage the coastal blue band available on the WorldView-2 and WorldView-3 commercial satellite sensors. The coastal band is designed to better penetrate shallow water and can improve discrimination among shallow subtidal water, wet substrate, and exposed or partially submerged sediments. The grant is essentially asking the recipient to turn that sensor capability into a robust, automated or semi-automated mapping approach that performs well under the messy real-world conditions typical of coastal and estuarine systems.

The opportunity is issued under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, specifically the Colorado Plateau CESU (CPCESU). Eligibility is limited to participating partners of the CPCESU, reflecting the CESU model where federal agencies collaborate with a network of partner institutions to provide research, technical assistance, and education. USGS signals the kind of expertise it expects from the awardee: strong working knowledge of automated mapping methods for coastal environments and a working understanding of how to apply satellite imagery to mudflat mapping. That framing suggests that competitive applicants would likely bring experience with remote sensing classification techniques (for example, object-based image analysis, supervised classification, spectral indices, time-series methods, and accuracy assessment), coastal geomorphology or intertidal habitat mapping, and sensor-specific processing considerations for high-resolution commercial imagery.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity using a cooperative agreement, which generally means USGS anticipates active involvement in shaping or coordinating the project as it proceeds. The posting date and creation date were June 29, 2015, with an original and current closing date of July 17, 2015, and an archive date of September 29, 2015. The opportunity anticipated one award with an estimated total funding amount of $8,225. The announcement lists no cost sharing or matching requirement. The CFDA number is 15.808 (U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection). While the award ceiling and floor are listed as zero in the notice (often a grants.gov formatting convention when a precise ceiling is not specified in that field), the estimated total funding provides the practical scale of the effort: this is a small, focused project aimed at producing a usable processing approach or prototype workflow rather than supporting a large multi-year research program.

For applicants or interested partners seeking the full announcement details, the listing points to grants.gov and provides a USGS contact for access issues: Faith Graves (703-648-7356, fgraves@usgs.gov).

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