Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Flooding is one of the costliest and most destructive natural disasters. In order to
minimize the impact, an optimal predictive model is critical. The HEC-RAS model
has been successfully applied to predict the extent of flooding in the United States
and Europe. The immediate destruction of properties and human casualties are the
more noticeable consequences of catastrophic flooding; but flood events can also
have long-lasting consequences. After catastrophic flooding, outbreaks of water
borne diseases (e.g. cholera, typhoid fever), water-based diseases (e.g. schistoso-
miasis, Guinea worm), water-related vector-borne diseases (e.g. malaria, Dengue
fever, lymphatic filariasis, trypanosomiasis, leismaniasis, onchocerciasis) may occur
because the flood plain facilitates intensified breeding for the disease vectors asso-
ciated with malaria ( Anopheles gambiae), with Dengue fever (Aedes aegypti & A.
albopictus), with lymphatic filiariasis (i.e. Culex quinquefaciatus, Anopheles funes-
tus, An. gambiae, Aedes scapularis, Ae. pseudoscutellaris, Ae. ploynesiensis, etc.),
with trypanosomiasis (Glossina morsitans), with leishmaniasis (Phlebotomus pap-
tasi & P. duboschi) and with onchocerciasis ( Semulium damnosum) . HEC-RAS can
potentially be used as a powerful tool in public health in the prediction of future
epidemics, particularly in combination with remote sensing and in situ monitoring
(Manguin and Boussinesq 1999 ).
Researchers at Purdue University-West Lafayette and the Polis Center of Indiana
University/Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI), together with other aca-
demic partners participated in a FEMA initiative for 100 year flood modeling for
2000 counties in the USA, utilizing FEMA's HAZUS-MH modeling software. The
Purdue Terrestrial Observatory also deployed remotely sensed data from NASA's
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Channels 6, 2 & 1, to
acquire before and after images of the June 6-7, 2008 flood after a rainfall of 7-11
inches ravaged the Southern Indiana (Fig. 11.1 ).
11.8 Climate Change and Public Health
Space-based technologies are not solely limited in their applicability to immediate
quotidien emergencies. They have been applied, as well, to longer term potentially
disastrous events, such as climate change (Patz et al. 2005 ). The application of
satellite data to climate change research is despite the fact that climatic pertur-
bations occur over time scales that long predate the advent of the earliest earth
observing satellites. Data from the military spy satellites, CORONA, LANYARD
and ARGON, launched during the presidency of Dwight David Eisenhower and
declassified in 1995 by President William Jefferson Clinton, now offer the earliest
known earth observing data from orbital platforms for the period 1960-1972, with
6-8 ft. spatial resolution. Tappan, et al. ( 2000 ) deployed declassified data from two
of these satellites, in addition to Landsat data, for change detection in land resources
over a 30 year period in West-Central Senegal.
In contrast, long-term global climate change trends have been observed through
more traditional methodologies, such as dendrochronology, polar ice coring and
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