Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Californian CESU | G19AS00012

Opportunity Information: Apply for G19AS00012

This grant opportunity, titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Californian CESU" (Funding Opportunity Number G19AS00012), was issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), specifically the John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis. It is a discretionary science and technology research award offered as a cooperative agreement, meaning the work is expected to be carried out in close coordination with USGS rather than as a fully independent project. The funding is intended for a partner within the Californian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) network, with eligibility described broadly as "Others" and clarified in the notice's additional eligibility text. The opportunity was created on October 29, 2018, and originally closed on November 14, 2018. The program is listed under CFDA 15.808, with one expected award and a maximum award amount (ceiling) of $100,000.

The purpose of the project is to strengthen tsunami hazard mitigation in the United States by developing a vetted, standardized set of tsunami-generating sources tied to earthquakes and landslides. In practical terms, the funded research is meant to identify and map credible tsunami sources and produce risk assessments that describe how those sources could affect coastlines and communities. By standardizing the underlying source information, the project aims to create a consistent and authoritative foundation that agencies and practitioners can rely on when building downstream hazard products and response tools. Those products include tsunami inundation zones, evacuation maps and plans, operational "tsunami playbooks" used by emergency management, and guidance that informs land-use decisions and construction planning in vulnerable areas.

A central theme of the opportunity is that tsunami planning depends heavily on the quality and consistency of the source scenarios used in modeling. Different jurisdictions and projects sometimes rely on different assumptions, different scenario catalogs, or inconsistent representations of earthquake rupture or landslide behavior, which can lead to conflicting hazard lines and uneven planning guidance. This award is designed to address that problem by producing a collection of earthquake and landslide tsunami sources that are both standardized and vetted, so they can serve as common inputs for hazard assessments across U.S. regions and planning contexts. The outcome is intended to support "meaningful hazard assessment products," with the broader goal of improving risk reduction and public safety.

The work described in the notice lays out a three-part analytical process. First, the project should determine which tsunami hazard planning efforts most need standardized sources (for example, evacuation planning, mitigation strategies, land-use planning, or other preparedness and resilience activities) and identify which U.S. regions are in greatest need of those standardized source sets. Second, the project should evaluate existing tsunami sources that are already being used in hazard products, essentially taking inventory of current practice and assessing their suitability, gaps, or inconsistencies. Third, the project should characterize the selected and vetted sources in both deterministic and probabilistic terms. Deterministic characterization generally means defining specific credible scenarios with explicit parameters and outcomes, while probabilistic characterization addresses likelihoods and uncertainty so that planners can understand not only what could happen, but how often certain levels of hazard might reasonably be expected. The notice emphasizes that this characterization should be fit-for-purpose, meaning it should match the needs of real tsunami planning and decision-making rather than being purely academic.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as a foundational research-and-synthesis effort intended to standardize tsunami source information nationwide so that subsequent modeling, mapping, and planning products are more consistent, defensible, and useful for mitigation and emergency management. The deliverables are not described as final evacuation maps or inundation products themselves; instead, the project focuses on the upstream source catalog and associated risk assessment framework that enables those authoritative mitigation products to be produced more reliably and consistently across agencies and regions.

• The Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Californian CESU" 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 Oct 29, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 14, 2018. (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 $100,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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