Project period: 2 3 25-2 2 27PROJECT title: aquasat: building a lasting resource for remote sensing of water qualityplain language description remote sensing provides a cost-effective, scalable…

This federal Cooperative Agreement award, funded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Research and Data Collection program (CFDA 15.808), supports the development and improvement of the AQUASAT dataset and codebase to enable remote sensing of water quality. The $249,917 award, granted on February 3, 2025, aims to expand AQUASAT's capacity as a benchmark dataset, improve data accessibility and usability, and enhance community engagement. Key activities include developing an R package to streamline AQUASAT access, adding new water quality parameters, creating a pipeline to integrate external datasets, and promoting AQUASAT usage through training workshops. The expected deliverables include a publicly available AQUASAT R package, updated datasets with expanded parameters, a robust data ingestion pipeline, training materials, and peer-reviewed publications. The primary beneficiaries are the U.S. Geological Survey, academic researchers, and state/tribal water quality managers.

Project period: 2 3 25-2 2 27PROJECT title: aquasat: building a lasting resource for remote sensing of water qualityplain language description remote sensing provides a cost-effective, scalable solution to track optically active water quality parameters in lakes, estuaries, and rivers. This project supports the development and improvement of aquasat, a dataset and codebase that enables remote sensing of water quality. Aquasat simplifies access to in-situ water quality data by harmonizing millions of records in the water quality portal, and then pairs these data directly with satellite surface reflectance. These matchups enable end-users to rapidly develop, test, and deploy machine learning models that convert satellite images into estimates of water quality for millions of waterbodies. Award purpose the purpose of this award is to expand aquasat s capacity as a benchmark dataset for remote sensing of water quality, improve data accessibility and usability, and enhance community engagement. These advancements will support scientists and decision-makers in developing and applying models to understand water quality trends over time and space. Activities to be performed 1. Develop an r package to streamline access to aquasat for data analysis 2. Add new water quality parameters, such as total nitrogen and total phosphorus 3. Create a pipeline to integrate additional datasets from external sources 4. Promote aquasat usage through training workshops deliverables and expected outcomes 1. A publicly available aquasat r package hosted on cran 2. Updated datasets with expanded parameters and enhanced data quality 3. A robust data ingestion pipeline that integrates external datasets 4. Training materials and workshops to increase accessibility and user proficiency 5. Peer-reviewed publications describing these new datasets and tools intended beneficiaries primary beneficiaries include the U.S. Geological survey, academic researchers, state and tribal water quality managers, and environmental scientists. These groups will gain access to high-quality, harmonized datasets and tools to monitor water quality more effectively. Secondary beneficiaries include policymakers and the general public, who will benefit from improved environmental management and decision-making. Subrecipient activities no subrecipients, all activities will be performed by the primary investigators and their team.