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6 Human Health and Security
Pages 152-189

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From page 152...
... , and perhaps as many as 15,000 people died in 2003 during a prolonged heat wave in France (Fouillet et al., 2006)
From page 153...
... Also, such data can enhance understanding of relationships between human health effects and UV radiation dosage levels. Likewise better remote sensing capabilities should enhance the capacity to detect and track risk agents, including local drought conditions, harmful algal blooms, regional air pollution, and many acute releases of environmental contaminants.
From page 154...
... • At a minimum, continuity of existing sensors is critical to developing observational and forecast capabilities for most diseases and other health risks. Although environmental links with more direct, shortterm health effects are reasonably well understood (e.g., temperature and heat stress or atmospheric pollutants and some respiratory symptoms)
From page 155...
... It is critical for Earth scientists to interact more openly and effectively with public health and security officials, to help determine the needed understanding, the desired analyses, and the applications through which remote sensing data can contribute to prediction, detection, and mitigation of threats to health and security. With such conceptual, research, planning, and policy interactions, the Earth science community, and NASA and NOAA, will be better able to contribute to improving human health and security, thus achieving the desired societal benefits.
From page 156...
... Experience with risk management applications (e.g., warnings on harmful algal bloom and famine early-warning systems) suggests that fine-spatial-resolution data are required to target forecasts and warnings to specific geographical locations; such targeted warnings have been shown to be more effective than blanket warnings over entire regions, as discussed later in this chapter.
From page 157...
... However, because the sensors are beginning to fail, plans should be devised for, at a minimum, maintaining these sensors (or their equivalents) so that long-term, time-series research linking environmental processes to health risks or disease patterns can be continued.
From page 158...
... priOritY OBserVatiONs, MeasureMeNts, aNd techNOLOGY deVeLOpMeNt This section identifies various needs for space-based observational data that will help to address human health problems in six areas of application: • Ultraviolet radiation and cancer, • Heat stress and drought, • Acute toxic pollution releases, • Air pollution and respiratory/cardiovascular disease, • Algal blooms and water-borne infectious diseases, and • Vector-borne and zoonotic disease. These are linked to the missions (Table 6.1)
From page 159...
... The following objectives must be achieved: • Catalytic destruction of O3 under conditions of low temperature and increased water vapor by the combination of chlorine, bromine, and iodine must be defined by observing the ClO, BrO, and IO concentrations in the lower stratosphere in the presence of increased water-vapor concentrations.
From page 160...
... ; benchmark GEO-CAPE tracer data (O3, CO2, CO, HDO/H2O, GPSRO NOy, N2O, CH4, halogen source molecules) ; spectrally resolved radiance; cloud and aerosol particles Heat stress and Rainfall; soil moisture; vegetation Microwave Global 1 km Twice daily Ecosystems DESDynI drought state; temperature sensors, radar, Weather GEO-CAPE hyperspectral, Climate HyspIRI imagers LIST PATH SMAP GPM LDCM NPP/NPOESS Acute toxic Visible atmospheric or hydrospheric High-resolution Geostationary 1 km (aerosols, Daily Ecosystems GEO-CAPE pollution plumes; ocean color; particle size; imager for Western ocean state, ACE releases gross vertical structure (multispectral: Hemisphere surface layers)
From page 161...
... Algal blooms Coastal ocean color; sea-surface Multispectral Regional 1 km Daily Ecosystems SWOT and waterborne temperature; atmospheric Water infectious correction; coastal ocean diseases phytoplankton; river plumes 100 m Weekly ACE GEO-CAPE PATH SMAP LDCM NPP/NPOESS Vector-borne and Meteorological conditions (surface Hyperspectral; Global 10s of meters >Monthly Ecosystems SMAP zoonotic disease temperature, precipitation, wind high-resolution Weather speed) ; soil moisture; landcover multispectral, Water status; vegetation state radar, lidar 1 km (surface Twice daily DESDynI temperature, HyspIRI soil moisture, LIST vegetation state)
From page 162...
... • The role of convective injection of short-lived compounds through the tropical tropopause and by convection at midlatitude continental sites must be established. Those objectives require the following combination of high-spatial-resolution observations: • The short-lived reactive species OH, HO2, NO2, ClO, BrO, IO, HONO2, HCl, and CH2O to pin down the chemical-catalytic-transport structure of the TTL and the injection of short-lived species into the overworld and middleworld from the troposphere; • Isotope observations of HDO, H218O, H2O obtained simultaneously in the condensed and vapor phases; • Benchmark tracer data (O3, CO2, CO, HDO/H2O, NOy, N2O, CH4, and halogen source molecules)
From page 163...
... A crucial aspect related to the forecasting of UV dosage over the coming decades is the determination of the impact of increased UV on human morbidity and mortality. Given that the incidence of skin cancer has continued to grow despite improving medical knowledge, a bridge must be built that encourages the atmospheric science community to interact more effectively with the public-health community to evaluate human responses to UV more accurately.
From page 164...
... Reproduced by permission of American Geophysical Union. 6.3 • Which mechanisms are responsible for the continuing erosion of ozone over midlatitudes of the Northern Hemisphere?
From page 165...
... FIGURE 6.4 Logarithmic increase in the reaction rate converting HCl and ClONO2 to Cl2 (and then to ClO)
From page 166...
... In affluent areas, those effects can be mitigated TABLE 6.2 Some Recent Heat Waves and Droughts Event Year Location Impact Heat wave 1987 Athens ~900 deaths Heat wave 1995 Chicago ~700 deaths Heat wave and drought 2002 Australia Poor crop yield Drought 2002 Southwest United States Poor crop yield Heat wave and drought 2003 France ~15,000 deaths, poor crop yield Drought 2005 Illinois Poor crop yield
From page 167...
... future Needs To maintain and enhance the ability to monitor heat waves and drought from space, the panel recommends the following future efforts and needed new sensor capabilities: • Develop new high-resolution satellite observations of rainfall and soil moisture, extending TRMMtype measurements to high latitudes and advance microwave sensors, such as SMOS (2007 launch scheduled) and HYDROS (2009 launch planned but unlikely)
From page 168...
... (B) 168 EARTH SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS FROM SPACE BOX 6.2 eurOpeaN heat WaVe The European heat wave during the summer of 2003 included small-scale features that could be resolved only with satellite remote sensing.
From page 169...
... The forest patch 6.2.3 on the right stayed relatively cool while the affected agricultural fields heated significantly. This scene location is part of the ASTER footprint shown in Figures 6.2.1 and 6.2.2.
From page 170...
... of oil released per event in a nonwartime incident. As for natural events, there has been an average of one red tide outbreak in Florida alone per year for the last three decades (see section below titled "Algal Blooms and Waterborne Infectious Diseases" for discussion of the detection of harmful algal blooms and waterborne pathogens by remote sensing)
From page 171...
... Satellite imagery is an important but partial solution to the emergency-response observation challenge; the total solution requires an integrated approach that blends satellite observations with surface and airborne observations. Previous National Research Council (NRC)
From page 172...
... Table 6.5 expands on the applicability of high-resolution satellite imagery. The ideal yet pragmatic solution is a geostationary imaging spectroradiometer in space that has the following characteristics: • Moderately high spatial resolution to capture plume horizontal structure; • Moderate view area to ensure that the visible plume can be observed in its entirety to quantify transport; • Pointing capability to ensure capturing scenes within the useful surface geometry viewed by the satellite; • Rapid refresh rate to map the temporal evolution of the plume and estimate the horizontal diffusivity (atmospheric and hydrospheric plumes have different requirements)
From page 173...
... This type of timeresolved data is currently not available from any satellite observations. Such a special-events imager would meet all of the requirements for observing very large acute events, including wildfires and very large refinery fires, and the harmful algal blooms discussed later in this chapter.
From page 174...
... In this reconstruction, later AVHRR passes sample the scene from slightly different locations. This can also be done in real time from geostationary orbit by oversampling in the image backplane and reconstructing the enhanced image.
From page 175...
... SOURCE: Courtesy of the SeaWiFS Project, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and GeoEye. air pollution and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases Mission summary -- air pollution and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases Variables: Aerosol composition and size; NO2, HCHO, VOCs, CO, SO2; tropospheric ozone Sensors: Multispectral UV/visible/near-IR/thermal IR, lidar Orbit/coverage: LEO and GEO/regional and global Panel synergy: Climate Background and importance Air pollution, particularly in the lower troposphere, is a major cause of cardiovascular and respiratory disease (EPA, 2004, 2006)
From page 176...
... 176 EARTH SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS FROM SPACE a b 18 c FIGURE 6.8 Comparison of enhanced-resolution AVHRR image with a high-resolution Landsat MSS image (centered at 36.5°N, 117.5°W)
From page 177...
... role of remotely sensed data Recent advances in tropospheric remote sensing have revealed the potential for applying satellite observations to air-quality issues. Observations of NO2 and formaldehyde (HCHO)
From page 178...
... . The workshop identified future satellite observations as crucial for air-quality management, involving four axes of application: (1)
From page 179...
... algal Blooms and Waterborne infectious diseases Mission summary -- algal Blooms and Waterborne infectious diseases Variables: Coastal ocean color, sea-surface temperature, atmospheric correction, coastal ocean phytoplankton, river plumes Sensor: Multispectral Orbit/coverage: GEO/regional Panel synergies: Ecosystems, Water Background and importance The rapid proliferation of toxic or nuisance algae, termed harmful algal blooms (HABs) , can occur in marine water, estuarine waters, and freshwaters and are among the scientifically most complex and most economically significant water issues facing the United States.
From page 180...
... Table 6.7 lists selected events demonstrating the use of remote sensing to detect and monitor harmful algal blooms (red tides) and waterborne pathogens.
From page 181...
... 1987-1996 28 citations of papers on remote sensing and red tides 1987 First use of thermal imagery to track oceanic currents responsible for the transport of harmful algae (Tester et al., 1991) 1988-1990 NOAA's Coastwatch Program developed to provide timely access to nearly real-time satellite data for U.S.
From page 182...
... BOX 6.3 red tides 182 SOURCE: Red tides image courtesy of GeoEye and a NASA SeaWiFs Project; text and graph on wind conditions courtesy of NOAA.
From page 183...
... The introduction and spread of West Nile virus through North America by mosquitoes during the last 5 years and recent concerns about the worldwide dissemination of H5N1 avian influenza are key recent examples of how human populations have come to be at risk for VBZ diseases over extensive geographic regions in short periods. The recent appearance and spread of Chikungunya virus by mosquitoes among the islands of southeast Africa and the Indian Ocean demonstrate the explosive growth of vector-borne diseases under permissive environmental conditions (http://www.
From page 184...
... future Needs Future applications will require sensors that characterize meteorological conditions (at least maximumal and minimumal surface temperature, daily precipitation, and wind speed) and soil moisture two to four times per day; these appear to be major drivers of short-term vector and animal demographic responses.
From page 185...
... The societal benefits that we all seek may not be achieved, even if remote sensing data are obtained, unless substantial and sustained support is provided for identifying Earth science determinants of the diverse health risks that can be understood. Another aspect of the broad study charge is to enhance epidemiological and disease surveillance efforts that use remote sensing data in a research or early-warning program.
From page 186...
... Relevant agencies should consider how to engage health and social scientists who are using satellite observations in a manner that encourages analyses that produce societal benefits. Such efforts should also promote interdisciplinary exchanges of data and analytic methods.
From page 187...
... 2006. Community input to the NRC decadal survey from the NCAR Workshop on Air Quality Remote Sensing From Space: Defining an Optimum Observing Strategy.
From page 188...
... 2001. Applications of satellite ocean color sensors for monitoring and predicting harmful algal blooms.
From page 189...
... 2006. Europe's 2003 heat wave: A satellite view of impacts and Land–Atmosphere Feedbacks.


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