Connecting Climate Change, Mosquitoes, and Community Health

Abstract

Scientists use environmental data obtained from NASA satellites to create regional predictive risk models of mosquito-borne disease outbreaks. The spatial patterns of precipitation, humidity, temperature, and land cover identify the locations where disease carrying mosquitoes can thrive and transmit pathogens that cause disease. The data obtained from satellites can be enhanced with high resolution, ground-based observations made by citizen scientists participating in GLOBE Mission Mosquito (GMM). GMM is an international field campaign supporting citizen scientists of all ages to monitor changes in the frequency, range, and distribution of potential disease vector mosquitoes by reporting observations of potential mosquito habitats and land cover using a free mobile app. These data can be downloaded from The GLOBE Program database and analyzed to explore a variety of research questions. Join this fast-paced webinar to learn about the connection between NASA climate change science, citizen science observations, and mosquito-borne disease, including cutting edge research related to machine learning and artificial intelligence. We’ll also present several resources and opportunities relevant to library and health professionals and researchers (scientific data, databases, and scientific publications) and outreach (webinars, reference materials, multimedia, hands-on activities, and more). 

Bios

Dr. Russanne (Rusty) Low is a climate scientist and educator at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies who works at the forefront of citizen science and its application for mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika, West Nile virus, and dengue. She is the science lead for the GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Mapper and GLOBE Mission Mosquito. Using a free mobile app, citizen scientists of all ages and community health professionals can work together with NASA scientists to reduce the outbreak of mosquito-borne disease in their community.

Theresa Schwerin is IGES Vice President for education programs. She leads the NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative, which is a partnership between IGES and the Earth sciences at three NASA Centers: Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Langley Research Center. NESEC provides opportunities for lifelong learners to participate in NASA Earth science.  Ms. Schwerin has an MLIS (Master of Library and Information Science). She fosters innovative collaborations to bring Earth observations to formal and informal education and is working with libraries to engage their communities in citizen science.