Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Plains Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G23AS00044

Opportunity Information: Apply for G23AS00044

This opportunity is a US Geological Survey (USGS) cooperative agreement aimed at advancing camera-based water monitoring under the Water Mission Area (WMA) Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS). The focus is on research and development that uses still-camera imagery combined with image analysis and artificial intelligence or machine learning methods to derive practical water data products, especially measurements like water stage and discharge. The underlying problem NGWOS is trying to address is that strong machine learning models depend on large collections of fully labeled training images, yet the water monitoring community does not currently have consistent, widely adopted approaches for how those images are captured, documented, stored, shared, and processed into usable training datasets.

A central theme of the grant is standardization and workflow development. The USGS notes several areas where inconsistency is holding the field back: image capture protocols (how cameras are set up and how images are collected), metadata standards (what descriptive information is recorded with each image so others can interpret and reuse it), data storage and delivery (how datasets are archived, organized, and made accessible), and the end-to-end image processing and machine learning workflows used to build training datasets. In practical terms, the work supported here is meant to produce a functional, standardized image processing workflow that can be adopted by NGWOS and, ideally, by the broader water monitoring community to reduce fragmentation and make camera-based monitoring more scalable and reliable.

The award is issued under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) framework, specifically tied to the Great Plains CESU. CESUs are partnership-based programs designed to support research, technical assistance, and education, and this opportunity is restricted to eligible organizations that are already participating partners within the Great Plains CESU Network. The assistance mechanism is a cooperative agreement, which typically signals that USGS expects substantial involvement during the project (for example, collaboration, iterative technical input, or coordination on standards and deliverables), rather than a hands-off grant.

Key administrative details include the opportunity number G23AS00044, classified as a discretionary funding opportunity in the science and technology and other research and development category, with CFDA number 15.808. The posting indicates an award ceiling of $275,000. The opportunity was created on January 4, 2023, with an original closing date of February 6, 2023. Overall, the project goal is not simply to develop a single model or one-off dataset, but to help create repeatable, community-useful practices and workflows that enable the consistent creation of labeled imagery and training data needed for AI-driven, camera-based water observations.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Great Plains Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" 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 2023-01-04.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-02-06. (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 $275,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G23AS00044

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