Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
limnology. Tree ring analysis methods, including dendrochronology and dendro-
chemistry, provide records up to the age of the oldest known tree, Bristlecone pine
(
Pinus longaeva)
, dated to be over 4,700 years old (Flanary and Kletetschka
2005
)
and both pollen analysis and macrofossil analysis of Norway spruce (
Picea abies
),
found in Sweden, provide data exceeding 8,000 years (Segerström and von Stedingk
2003
). Petit et al. in their article published in Nature (
1999
) traced 420,000 years of
climatic and atmospheric history from the Vostok ice core in Eastern Antarctica.
Limnology cores from Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia have recorded long-term
climate cycles over the past 12 million years (Kashiwaya et al.
2001
).
Nonetheless, given events such as a rapid escalation in polar ice melts and 40
years of multispectral data collected from NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution
Radiometer (AVHRR) and Landsat, specific applications of remote sensing have
proven to have utility for contributing to climatology. As a case in point, (Green and
Hay
2002
) evaluated data from NOAA's AVHRR as a source for “surrogate climatic
variables across Africa and Europe for epidemiological applications.”
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC
2007
) asserts, “Human
beings are exposed to climate change through changing weather patterns (for exam-
ple, more intense and frequent extreme events) and indirectly through changes in
water, air, food quality and quantity, ecosystems, agriculture, and economy. At this
early stage the effects are small but are projected to progressively increase in all
countries and regions”. Moreover, according to the World Health Organization,
“Changes in climate are likely to lengthen the transmission seasons of important
vector-borne diseases, and to alter their geographic range, potentially bringing them
to regions that lack population immunity and/or a strong public health infrastruc-
ture” (WHO
2007
). IPCC (
2007
) projects that the global population at risk from
vector-borne malaria will increase within a range of 220 million to 400 million, in
the next century. Most of the increase is predicted to occur in Africa; but Britain,
Australia and Portugal are expected to experience some increased risk.
Climate change as a result of both natural and anthropogenic activities could
result in environmental dynamics and conditions favorable to the outbreak and
spread of chronic diseases. Climate change conditions, such as severe heat waves,
flooding, drought and extreme weather events (Ebi
2007
; Hajat and Kosatsky
2009
),
have direct impact on agriculture, water resources, air pollution (Chauhan and
Johnston
2003
) and the environment (e.g. coastal zones, forest and biodiversity).
Adverse health effects include loss of life, respiratory illness (e.g. allergies, asthma,
and lung cancer) from air pollution, the spread of vector borne diseases, as well
as hunger related diseases, due to the loss of agricultural productivity (Patz et al.
2000
). Most waterborne and airborne disease parasites require specific range of
meteorological conditions, with respect to temperature, precipitation and relative
humidity in order to thrive in breeding and transmission. Climate change enables
extreme variability that may intensify breeding habitat and the outbreak of vector
borne diseases (Anyamba et al.
2001
).
To understand and quantify the potential impact of climate change on public
health, health risk assessment models, incorporating climate change related remote
sensing products, experimental field data and ranges of climatic and socioeconomic
