Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Piedmont South Atlantic Coast CESU | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

Funding Opportunity Number G13AS00077, titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Piedmont South Atlantic Coast CESU," was a discretionary U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) grant opportunity offered through a cooperative agreement to support applied coastal science and research and development. The project sits under the USGS Coastal Change Processes Project and focuses on understanding how sediment moves between the shoreline, the nearshore zone, and the offshore/inner shelf, and how those linked processes shape coastal change over time. The core motivation for the work is the major damage and reshaping of the U.S. Northeast coast caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which highlighted gaps in knowledge about how resilient certain shorelines are and why some areas experience more severe erosion and reconfiguration than others.

The scientific emphasis is on Fire Island, New York, a heavily impacted barrier-island system where the inner continental shelf contains elongated sediment ridges on the seafloor. These ridges are not just passive landforms; they interact with along-shelf currents and cross-shelf wave energy in ways that can create converging and diverging sediment pathways. In practical terms, that means sand can be funneled toward certain stretches of coast and pulled away from others, influencing patterns of erosion, overwash, and recovery. A central idea behind the proposed research is that these inner-shelf ridges can meaningfully affect how the shoreline responds during storms, including the extreme conditions experienced during Hurricane Sandy, and that understanding this relationship is important for predicting future storm impacts and longer-term coastal evolution.

The opportunity described a five-year research effort using a combination of geophysical surveys, oceanographic measurements, and predictive modeling. Geophysical surveys generally imply mapping and characterizing seafloor and subsurface features (such as the shape, size, orientation, and sediment composition of inner-shelf ridges), while oceanographic studies point to observing waves, currents, and water-level dynamics that physically drive sediment transport. Predictive models would then integrate these observations to simulate sediment movement and shoreline response, improving the ability to assess vulnerability and resilience and to anticipate how barrier-island systems might change under future storms and changing ocean conditions. The overall outcome sought is a better process-based understanding of sediment transport linkages from offshore to the beach, enabling stronger forecasts of coastal change rather than relying solely on after-the-fact damage assessments.

Administratively, the funding instrument was a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates substantial involvement by USGS in coordinating or collaborating on the work rather than a hands-off grant. The award was posted July 2, 2013, and had an original and current closing date of July 12, 2013, with an archive date of September 2, 2013. The estimated total funding listed was $80,000, and no cost sharing or matching requirement was stated. Award ceiling and floor were both listed as $0, which often appears in older postings when specific bounds are not set in the system even though an estimated total is provided. The CFDA number associated with the opportunity was 15.808 (U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection), reflecting its emphasis on federally supported research and data generation.

Eligibility was limited to partners within the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) network, specifically participants in the Piedmont South Atlantic Coast CESU. CESUs are collaborative partnerships designed to provide research, technical assistance, and education by linking federal agencies with universities and other research institutions. Because eligibility was restricted to participating CESU partners, organizations outside that network would typically need to join or partner with an existing CESU member to participate. The listing directed applicants to Grants.gov for the full announcement, and it provided a point of contact at USGS for access issues: Faith Graves (703-648-7356, fgraves@usgs.gov).

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