Geoinformation for Disaster and Risk Management - ISPRS

Dust, smoke, and human health
There is ample literature linking airborne
contaminants to health outcomes. Individual health
is influenced by interactions among genetic and
environmental factors. Many of the latter represent
pathways for transmitting airborne infectious or
contagious diseases across a population. Prolonged
exposures to dust and smoke exacerbate chronic
obstructive pulmonary diseases, allergic reactions,
and a host of respiratory conditions affecting specific
age groups. Moreover, there is evidence that the toll
is rising because of climate variability, land-use
conversions, and global urbanization.
Much of the world experiences weather-induced
dust storms. These are visible from space, but
operational weather forecasts do not predict dust
events or concentrations. To acquire this
information, a dust entrainment model must be
embedded into a weather forecast model to simulate
dust dynamics at the breathing level. For health
applications, the question is whether outputs can be
delivered in a timely manner to issue alerts and
implement interventions? If so, can these forecasts
be linked to health tracking systems? To answer
these questions, forecasts must be available daily.
They should also integrate satellite observations
with geographic and demographic data into systems
that can track immediate and long-term exposures.
Only in this way will such forecasts provide relevant
information for both patient-specific diagnoses and
group epidemiology.
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Role for satellite observations of dust
Satellite sensors measure global atmospheric data to
forecast broad area disasters such as hurricanes and
tsunamis. Public health infrastructures that link dayto-day
environmental conditions to public health
outcomes are just beginning to emerge. There is a
growing need to collect, archive, and integrate
environmental monitoring data with health services,
and an equal need to verify and validate the medical
value of these data in decision support tools that
streamline disease surveillance. This paper suggests
practices for linking ground and space-based air
quality observations to respiratory health; provides
examples of how satellite data can be used to
improve health services; and, suggests ways for how
these services can assist health care providers and
policy makers to develop better prevention and
mitigation measures.
Figure 1: Particle sizes and their associated
biophysical impacts (Kaiser, 2005).
Satellite sensors provide routine, synoptic
environmental data; but, their utility is enhanced
when used in concert with health records and
socioeconomic data in an information systems
environment. Epidemiologists are interested in
contextual relationships between dust events and
associated risk factors such as demographics, life
style, access to health care, exposure rates, and
genetic heritage. Archived data about these
attributes enable disease surveillance to be
conducted via a forecast, and via projections over
longer periods to assess the causes and effects of
dust on health. However, until satellite sensors began
collecting synoptic environmental data, there were
no long-term archives around which to design
epidemiological studies. Health authorities have
always been aware of environmental factors, but
information gathering for hospital admissions and
emergency room visits leave little time to address
factors that trigger respiratory and cardiovascular
reactions, let alone address possible airborne
diseases leading to epidemics.