Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday September 14 2017, @07:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the one-piece-of-the-puzzle dept.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/news/a28198/nasa-satellites-predict-malaria-outbreaks/

Malaria is one of the world's most deadly diseases, made even more deadly by the fact that it tends to affect mostly remote communities. This makes it difficult to track and control malaria outbreaks when they happen, resulting in more severe outbreaks and more victims. To solve this problem, a group of researchers have turned to an unlikely source: NASA satellites.

[...] NASA satellites can be used to track weather patterns, temperatures, and water levels in order to find the ponds and puddles where those mosquitoes breed. The researchers used NASA weather satellites, combined with a computer model called the Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS), in order to track and predict temperatures, rainfall levels, soil moisture content, and vegetation. This information can tell the researchers where most of the mosquitoes are going to be.

"It's an exercise in indirect reasoning," says investigator Ben Zaitchik. "These models let us predict where the soil moisture is going to be in a condition that will allow for breeding sites to form."

But mosquitoes are only half the equation. The researchers also need to know where the people are going to be, and for this they rely on a combination of census data and seasonal migration studies, informed by the same NASA data used to track mosquitoes.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday September 15 2017, @01:25AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday September 15 2017, @01:25AM (#568203) Journal

    They were embarrassed by their 3% reliability, so they stopped predicting.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2