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Topic: Help NASA Track Mosquito DiseasePosted By: Technophobe
Subject: Help NASA Track Mosquito Disease
Date Posted: July 02 2018 at 12:46pm
Public Release:
Help NASA track and predict mosquito-borne disease outbreaks
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Picnics, parades and fireworks are the attributes of a grand July
Fourth celebration. So are the itch and scratch of mosquito bites. While
the bites are annoying, they don't tend to stop the festivities.
However, certain types of mosquitoes can cause serious harm. They are
known to carry and spread diseases like Zika, West Nile Virus and
malaria.
One of the tools researchers are using to track these mosquitos is
citizen science data combining with NASA Earth satellite observations to
create new forecast models that can predict the spread of
mosquito-carrying diseases, but more data are needed to improve models
that can predict and track mosquito-borne diseases.
"We do not have enough information on the geographic distribution of
mosquito and time-variation in their populations. If a lot of people
participated in this citizen science initiative worldwide, it will help
fill in gaps and that would help our work," said Assaf Anyamba, a
scientist from Universities Space Research Association using satellite
data to study mosquitoes at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland.
From fall 2017 to spring 2018, two NASA DEVELOP teams at Goddard
studied Western Europe, a place not typically known for mosquito disease
outbreaks. DEVELOP, part of NASA's Applied Sciences Program, addresses
environmental and public policy issues through interdisciplinary
research projects that apply the lens of NASA Earth observations to
community concerns around the globe. The Global Mosquito Alert
Consortium supplied the DEVELOP teams with citizen science data.
The teams blended the citizen science data with NASA satellite
observations of land surface temperatures, humidity, soil moisture,
elevation, vegetation and precipitation. The data were then used to
create an interactive, open-source map on Google Earth Engine to improve
prediction models for disease-carrying mosquitoes. The work is ongoing.
Early results showed that vegetation, humidity and soil moisture
made it easier for mosquitoes to thrive during the summer months. During
the winter, elevation played a stronger role in creating
mosquito-friendly habitats. The lower the altitude, the higher the
number of mosquitoes. One challenge with the study was that the citizen
science data was concentrated in populated areas; and as a result, it
was skewing some of the mosquito results," said Sara Lubkin, DEVELOP
project coordination fellow at Goddard.
More citizen science data from more areas of the world could help.
"Knowing the mosquito species and their approximate populations at a
given time provides useful information on the potential of occurrence
of a particular pathogen, or disease transmission," said Anyamba.
Different environmental conditions are suitable for certain types of disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Every summer, hot, humid conditions drive up mosquito populations.
Since there are plenty of wet areas to live and breed, mosquitoes tend
to stay in one area. However, when conditions become hot and dry,
mosquitoes migrate to more suitable habitats.
Satellites can detect how wet or how dry an area is, and that
information helps determine what types of mosquitoes and disease can
move through an environment.
The last significant West Nile outbreak in the United States
occurred in 2011, which was a dry year. The hot, dry season led
mosquitoes to move into highly urbanized and populated areas seeking
food and water.
Warmer temperatures excite some mosquito species, causing them to
bite more people. Also, certain high temperature thresholds can reduce
the amount of time it takes for mosquitoes to mature from larvae to
adults leading to doubling mosquito populations over an average year.
Mosquitoes cannot travel far on their own. Instead, they have to
hitch a ride on people and animals to travel any significant distance.
If a mosquito is a type that carries and spreads diseases, then the
disease can move into new areas, as occurred in Western Europe.
The public can help track mosquitoes by downloading an app called
GLOBE Observer, and then collect data over the summer using the Mosquito
Habitat Mapper tool in the app. The app guides users through the
process of identifying and eliminating mosquito breeding sites in order
to reduce mosquito populations in their local area.