Grants / Department of the Interior / Geological Survey

G26AS00123: Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with the Great Lakes-Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

Closed Closed June 29, 2026 Opportunity G26AS00123 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with the Great Lakes-Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (G27AS00083). Status: Closes November 30, 2026 (23 days left). It is in our archive of Geological Survey notices from 2026.

• Award ceiling$299,971
• Award floor$1
• Total funding$299,971
• Expected awards1
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

This financial assistance opportunity is being issued under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Program. CESU"s are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education. Eligible recipients must be a participating partner of the Great Lakes-Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection awards averaged $557,251; this notice allows up to $299,971 per award.
• Most of the program's money (84% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for the research outlined below. Timely characterization of the spatial distribution and severity of water quality degradation in response to episodic events is a challenge for the water quality monitoring community given their episodic nature and dynamic and broad potential distribution that is not necessarily visible. Autonomous underwater vehicles equipped with in-situ sensors have been long used by the oceanographic community for geospatial characterization of hydrodynamic, biological and biogeochemical conditions, but due to their high historical cost, this technology has been underutilized in monitoring at the scale of local water quality threats to inform management and the public. The U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Mission Area is interested in partnering with the CESU to evaluate the operational readiness of a low-cost autonomous underwater vehicle called the JaiaBot BIO. The JaiaBot BIO has been developed with the ability to conduct rapid assessments of the distribution and severity of episodic water quality degradation associated with high flow event riverine plumes and summer/fall cyanobacteria blooms. Lake Champlain is an ideal test bed for this technology given its high watershed to lake area/volume ratio (highly sensitive to episodic disturbance), the co-existence of long-term and high frequency stationary monitoring infrastructure within the lake and its tributaries, and eutrophic bays with well-characterized and highly dynamic (in both time and space) cyanobacteria blooms that are partially driven by transient and spatially heterogeneous bottom water hypoxia. The project's overall objective is to examine the operational readiness of commercially available autonomous underwater vehicle technology coupled with in-situ water quality sensors for quantifying the distribution and severity of events that compromise water quality in near real time. Four (4) JaiaBot BIO autonomous underwater vehicles will be purchased for use during the project and vested to the recipient at the conclusion of the project. The project duration will be 24 months from the receipt of funds.

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, G27AS00083, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.