Two Monta Vista High School students spent the summer helping research how disease is spread. Unlike the coronavirus, the focus of their research is visible to the naked eye.
Senior Saravana Polisetti and junior Lawrence Wu both learned the ins and outs of mosquito mapping through their Student Enhancement in Earth and Space Science (SEES) summer internships. The internship program is sponsored by NASA’s Texas Space Grant Consortium and is nationally competitive. Student interns work on research projects using NASA data and receive training from NASA scientists.
Mosquito mapping is an important tool in helping stop the spread of infectious diseases by the blood-sucking insects. The student mosquito mappers were led by Dr. Russanne Low from GLOBE Observer, an international education and science program. Interns learn about satellite data analysis, mosquito larvae, habitats and ecology and land cover classification.
“The most important skills that I have learned through the internship are using the different remote sensing tools such as ArcGIS, ImageJ, and Collect Earth Online, and the different NASA satellite data,” Saravana says. “Another important skill that I’ve learned was using Python for data analysis and how we can use it for classifying different types of data.”
Interns also conduct their own field research locally by setting up mosquito traps and using the GLOBE Observer citizen science app on a mobile device.
“Most of the data analysis for our team was done in an office,” Lawrence says. “However, we did also do fieldwork to support other teams in the internship. This field research was in our local area—so Cupertino for me—and was used to identify mosquito habitat locations and land cover elements which our team might also use in the future.”
Reporting actual and potential mosquito habitats locally can help scientists make more accurate forecasts about possible mosquito-borne disease outbreaks when these data are combined with satellite observations on vegetation, temperatures and the presence of water.
“Mosquito mapping is necessary in preventing the spread of mosquito-borne diseases as it can provide a warning of when mosquitoes are prevalent in an area and what places are potential breeding sites,” Lawrence says.
The Cupertino teens both worked on a final research project that required them to use Python for land classification. Via a Collect Earth Online map, they classified trees, bushes, grass, cultivated vegetation, buildings, bare ground and shadows. They also classified bodies of water like treated pools, lakes and ponds, rivers, streams and irrigation ditches.
“We have found that with the right time and resources, this could be a viable way to help make mosquito models,” Saravana says.
Locally, he added, West Nile virus is the biggest concern because there is no vaccine and there have been mosquitoes with the virus found in Santa Clara County.
“The ability to know which areas are at risk before the diseases have a chance to spread is huge,” Lawrence says.
