USGS Great Lakes-Northern Forest CESU: Water Quality and Autonomous Vehicle Research

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.

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.

Agency: Geological Survey; opportunity number: G26AS00123.

Funding category: ST.

Applicants should review the full notice package for objectives, required forms, review criteria, and federal compliance rules.

Award ceiling: USD 299,971; Award floor: USD 1; Total funding: USD 299,971

2026-06-29; posted 2026-05-29: 2026-06-29; posted 2026-05-29: Jun 29, 2026.

Confirm the exact deadline time, time zone, and submission route on the official call page.

Plan internal approvals, partner confirmations, budgets, letters, and portal submission before the final deadline.

Apply through the official Grants.gov listing for opportunity G26AS00123. Deadline/key date: 2026-06-29.

Before submitting, check required documents, eligible costs, attachments, page limits, institutional approvals, and whether the opportunity uses an expression of interest, full proposal, registration, or nomination stage.