1 An Overview of NASA Public Health Applications Projects Using Remote Sensing Observations John A. Haynes Program Manager, Public Health Applied Sciences Program Earth Science Division Science Mission Directorate NASA Washington, DC USA

Presenter Disclosures (1)The following personal financial relationships with commercial interests relevant to this presentation existed during the past 12 months: John Haynes “No relationships to disclose”

2006 NASA Strategic Plan NASA Strategic Goal 3 Develop a balanced overall program of science, exploration, and aeronautics consistent with the redirection of human spaceflight program to focus on exploration. NASA Sub-Goal 3A: Study Earth from space to advance scientific understanding and meet societal needs. NASA’s partnership efforts in global modeling and data assimilation over the next decade will shorten the distance from observations to answers for important, leading-edge science questions. NASA’s Applied Sciences program will continue the Agency’s efforts in benchmarking the assimilation of NASA research results into policy and management decision-support tools that are vital for the Nation’s environment, economy, safety, and security. NASA also is working with NOAA and inter-agency forums to transition mature research capabilities to operational systems, primarily the polar and geostationary operational environmental satellites, and to utilize fully those assets for research purposes.

Aqua Terra Aura GRACE ICESat CALIPSO CloudSat SORCE TRMM EO-1 Landsat-7 ACRIMSAT QuikSCAT Jason OSTM/Jason 2 Current NASA Earth Remote Sensing Observatories

5 How a Polar Orbiting Satellite orbits…

7 Smoke from Alaskan/Yukon Fires 18 July 2004

NASA Applied Sciences Program Mission Statement To expand and accelerate the realization of societal and economic benefits from NASA Earth observations by creating applications that address real-world problems.

Technology Missions / Observations Data and Archives Research and Analysis Models / Predictions Policy Decisions Forecasting Results of NASA Earth Science Research Societal Needs Applied Sciences Program Response & Recovery Management Decisions NASA Applied Sciences Architecture

GEO 9 Societal Benefit Areas Natural & Human Induced Disasters Human Health & Well-Being (Air Quality) Energy Resources Climate Variability & Change Water Resources Weather Information, Forecasting & Warning Ecosystems Sustainable Agriculture Oceans Applied Sciences works across the 9 Societal Benefit Areas of GEO, with a focus on those areas where:  NASA has greatest capability and expertise  Where there is greatest need for decision support

11 Patz et al., Why public health? Source: GEO, 2003

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Focus Areas of Public Health The Public Health application area focuses on Earth science applications to public health and safety, particularly regarding infectious disease, emergency preparedness and response, and environmental health issues. The application explores issues of toxic and pathogenic exposure, as well as natural and man-made hazards and their effects, for risk characterization/mitigation and improvements to health and safety.

Collaboration with the CDC and EPA to Enhance the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network Particulate Matter (PM 2.5 ) in 2003 Data from scattered EPA monitoring sites were used to make daily surfaces of particulate matter (PM) concentrations. High concentrations of PM are associated with adverse health reactions, eg. respiratory and cardiovascular problems. NASA and the CDC are partners in linking environmental and health observations to enhance public health surveillance through the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (EPHTN). The integration of NASA earth science satellite observations, model predictive capabilities, and technology enhances the value of public health decision support. NASA and CDC verified and validated that augmenting the EPA Air Quality System (AQS) observations with NASA MODIS-derived PM 2.5 observations increases the temporal and spatial resolutions of fine particulate estimates and increases the accuracy in estimating concentrations of PM 2.5. Technical Contacts: Doug Rickman Dale Quattrochi CDC Contact Dr. Judith Qualters National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program Centers for Disease Control & Prevention 1600 Clifton Rd, NE, MS E19 Atlanta GA NASA Program Contact John A Haynes, Program Manager Public Health Application, Applied Sciences Program NASA Headquarters Washington DC High : 50  g/m 3 Low : 0  g/m 3 EPA sites v. Dec 2008

Dust Surveillance in the Southwest USA Upper Left: Dust observed from the NOAA GOES 12 satellite at 20:26 UTC on December 15, The red dashed line encircles a large dust storm occurring in west Texas. Lower Left: DREAM modeled dust concentration distribution for 20:00 UTC on December 15, 2003, before ingesting NASA MODIS land cover observations. Lower Right: DREAM modeled dust concentration distribution for 20:00 UTC on December 15, 2003, after ingesting NASA MODIS land cover observations. Note that the DREAM model much more accurately represents the NOAA GOES 12 observed dust storm after ingesting NASA Earth science satellite observations.

Collaboration with DOD, USGS, USAID, and Columbia U. on Malaria Problem: Malaria kills up to 3 million people yearly worldwide, many of whom are children. In addition, malaria costs African nations approximately $12 billion in economic productivity. The health and economic consequences of malaria make it a destabilizing phenomenon. Accurate characterization of malaria risk is important because of its impact on US military and humanitarian personnel and operations. Global climate change may expand malaria risk areas to new locales. Solution: NASA and DOD (through GSAT) and USGS, USAID, and Columbia U. (through MEWS) are partners in utilizing environmental parameters such as precipitation, temperature, and vegetative cover to better characterize malaria transmission risks. NASA Research Results: Model predictive capabilities and observations from NASA Earth-observing satellites such as Terra, Aqua, and TRMM. Status: Current and future malaria risks have been forecast with high accuracy in Thailand, Afghanistan, and Indonesia. Analysis of rainfall patterns using meteorological station data, rainfall estimated from satellite images, and malaria incidence indicated strong links between clinical malaria incidence and rainfall patterns across Eritrea, with malaria incidence peaks lagging behind rainfall peaks by 2 to 3 months. Precipitation is one of the main environmental determinants that promotes malaria transmission. The precipitation distribution in provincial resolution, based on NASA TRMM observations, is shown for the four Thailand season from 2000 to This image shows vegetation density (NDVI) over Africa in May By closely monitoring vegetation in regions affected by increased rainfall, scientists can identify areas at increased risk for outbreaks of malaria. Investigators: R. Kiang, M. Brown, NASA Goddard

17 Collaboration with the CDC ArboNET on Plague Vector habitats, seasonal lifecycle variations, migration pressure from rainfall, soil moisture, vegetative cover, surface temperature, elevation, and slope. Landsat 7 TRMM Terra

18 ArboNET/Plague Results Investigators: C. Tucker; J. Pinzon, NASA Goddard

Poultry and human H5N1 cases in Greater Jakarta from 2005 to 2007 overlaid on a false color NASA Terra ASTER image. ASTER radiances provide land cover information. In the figure, a green triangle is a poultry influenza case, a blue circle is a human influenza case and a red circle is a human influenza death. Project goal is to enhance the decision support capabilities concerning avian influenza (AI) risks and pandemic early warning through the Department of Defense (DoD) Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (GEIS) and the Naval Medical Research Unit-2 (NAMRU-2). Environmental parameters such as land cover, precipitation, temperature, and humidity may be key factors in the spread of influenza. Collaboration with DOD on Avian Influenza (H5N1)

Collaboration with DOD on Ebola and Rift Valley Fever in Africa The risk map above uses information of vegetation dynamics as provided by NDVI data from MODIS and AVHRR. It uses a dynamic threshold that characterizes tropical moist forest from gallery tropical forest. The colored areas indicate regions at low risk (blue) and high risk (red) to Ebola activity. The high risk areas are noted to be in close proximity to bat caves. This project aims to provide monthly environmental and on-demand risk maps to the DOD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (GEIS) by integrating information from NOAA AVHRR, MODIS, AMSR-E, and TRMM, as well as simulated products from upcoming missions such as NPP and GPM. By enhancing DoD-GEIS with NASA-derived environmental risk maps, the project supports: 1) GEIS efforts toward improving surveillance systems that are crucial to preventing, detecting and containing these diseases, 2) GEIS overseas laboratories with their service to host country counterparts and the UN, to improve local epidemiological capabilities.

Collaboration with Columbia U. on Meningitis in the African Sahel The project will explore environmental and demographic risk factors as predictors for meningitis outbreaks in the African Sahel, particularly in Niger. The approach will take advantage of different sources of environmental information: in-situ data, model outputs and satellite observations (including those from the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer and TRMM). The latter are an important contribution in areas of sparse data coverage, poor real-time reporting, and limited access to reliable environmental information – such as the Sahel. A large plume of African dust blows out over the Atlantic Ocean. This true color image of the dust event was acquired on February 11, 2002, by MODIS. Particles contained in dust clouds are suspected to be responsible for nasal irritations facilitating meningitis transmission in Africa.

.gov/ph.gov/rs.org.edu.int.mil NASA’s Public Health Partners

Future Observations for Health – Near Term Glory – 2010 –Collect data on the properties of aerosols, including black carbon, in the Earth's atmosphere and climate system; collect data on solar irradiance for the long-term effects on the Earth climate record. NPOESS Preparatory Mission (NPP) –NPP will serve as a bridge mission between the NASA Earth- observing research satellites Terra, Aura, and Aqua and the operational National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) constellation. Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) – 2014 –Will provide accurate observations of the intensity and distribution of global precipitation. GPM builds on the heritage of the TRMM mission and is in partnership with JAXA.

Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) – ~2015 –HyspIRI will employ a hyperspectral imager and a thermal infrared scanner to monitor a variety of ecological and geological features at a wide range of wavelengths, including data on changes in vegetation type and deforestation for ecosystem management. Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) – 2015 SMAP will use a combined radiometer and high-resolution radar to measure surface soil moisture and freeze-thaw state. Deformation, Ecosystem Structure, and Dynamics of Ice (DESDynI) – ~2015 –DESDynI is a dedicated InSAR and LIDAR mission optimized for studying hazards and global environmental change, including the effects of changing climate on land use and species habitats. Future Observations for Health – Decadal Survey First Tier

Aqua Terra Aura EO-1 Landsat-7 ACRIMSAT QuikSCAT Jason OSTM/Jason GlorySORCE TRMM Aquarius GRACE ICESat CALIPSO CloudSat

Aqua Terra Aura Aquarius SORCE TRMM Landsat-7 ACRIMSAT Jason OSTM/Jason NPP Glory GRACE CloudSat EO-1 CALIPSO

Aqua Terra Aura SORCE TRMM Jason OSTM/Jason Glory Aquarius Landsat-7 NPP GRACE CloudSat CALIPSO

Aqua Terra Aura SORCE TRMM OSTM/Jason NPP Glory LDCM Aquarius Landsat-7 CloudSat CALIPSO

Aqua SORCE OSTM/Jason NPP Glory GPM Core GPM Low Aquarius LDCM SMAP Landsat-7

Aqua SORCE OSTM/Jason Glory Aquarius GPM Core GPM Low LDCM SMAP NPP Landsat-7 ICESat II HyspIRI DesDynI SMAP

Applied Sciences Program National Aeronautics and Space Administration Earth Science Enterprise Applications Plan April 2004

32 Epidemiology in the 21 st Century