Mosquito Habitat Mapper - data + citizen science + accuracy in action
By: Kristin Hunter-Thomson
Mosquitos??
Ok, so I am probably the last person to voluntarily spend more time with mosquitos as I am the person everyone wants at a picnic…the kind that gets 30+ bites when someone else gets maybe 1. But trust me this is a super cool opportunity for your students.
The GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Mapper campaign is worth a consideration!
Mosquitoes, rather than lions, and tigers, and bears, are actually the world’s most dangerous animal! Scientists are creating a range of monitoring efforts to bring early warning of potential disease outbreaks to public health officials around the world.
With the GLOBE Observer app, citizen scientists can report potential mosquito habitat and the presence of mosquito larvae when found. NASA scientists are pairing these citizen science reports with satellite observations of temperature, water and vegetation, to develop forecasts of a communities’ risk of mosquito-borne diseases. Scientists are also using the photos of mosquito larvae collected by citizen scientists to better train the AI software in identifying mosquitoes to the genus level! Critical for predicting what harmful diseases the mosquito populations of an area may carry.
Mosquitoes rely on places where water collects. The availability of mosquito habitat depends on factors like land cover and precipitation.
Integrate Mosquito Habitat Mapper into your programming by conducting a mosquito habitat audit around your facility or playing a fun game of mosquito-themed bingo.
The team is continually designing more resources and supports for participants and teachers. Check out some of these highlights:
While you are at it, consider recording your latitude and longitude…and get a great first hand experience in why accuracy matters (if your phone thinks you are somewhere within 80 meters of a spot that a bit different for a mosquito than within 2 meters of a spot :)).
Also, record images of the land cover of where you are for the GLOBE Land Cover campaign at the same time and further help NASA scientists ground truth their satellite images!
Check out the Mosquito Habitat Mapper and let us (and the project team) how it goes!
