Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Using the NASA Giovanni System to Assess and Evaluate Remotely-Sensed and Model Data Variables Relevant to Public Health Issues

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Geospatial Technology for Human Well-Being and Health

Abstract

The NASA Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (Giovanni) has provided remotely-sensed data variables from NASA Earth science missions and related Earth system modeling projects since 2003. Over this period of time, numerous published research articles have cited the use of Giovanni for investigations of public health topics. These papers allow classification of the variables in the system which have proven usefulness for particular health issues. We will present several examples demonstrating the spectrum of health issues for which Giovanni has been used and also present a discussion in which public health application fields will be matched with data variables and analysis options suitable for research in each field. A case history example will demonstrate how Giovanni allows rapid and skillful assessment and evaluation of connections between Earth observation data and the public health realm.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Acker, J.G. 2015. Chapter 5: High stakes and bright seas. In The color of the atmosphere with the ocean below: A history of NASA’s ocean color missions. North Charleston: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, ISBN 1507699220, 362 pages.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adama, I., and M.B. Mochiah. 2017. Assessing the relationship between outbreaks of the African armyworm and climatic factors in the forest transition zone of Ghana. British Journal of Environment & Climate Change 7 (2): 69–82. https://doi.org/10.9734/BJECC/2017/30588.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen, S.K., P. Rastner, M. Arora, C. Huggel, and M. Stoffel. 2015. Lake outburst and debris flow disaster at Kedarnath, June 2013: Hydrometeorological triggering and topographic predisposition. Landslides. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-015-0584-3.

  • Athanasopoulou, E., D. Rieger, C. Walter, H. Vogel, A. Karali, M. Hatzaki, E. Gerasopoulos, B. Vogel, C. Giannakopoulos, M. Gratsea, and A. Roussos. 2014. Fire risk, atmospheric chemistry and radiative forcing assessment of wildfires in eastern Mediterranean. Atmospheric Environment 95: 113–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.05.077.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchholz, R.R., C. Paton-Walsh, D.W.T. Griffith, D. Kubistin, C. Caldow, J.A. Fisher, N.M. Deutscher, G. Kettlewell, M. Riggenbach, R. Macatangay, P.B. Krummel, and R.L. Langenfelds. 2015. Source and meteorological influences on air quality (CO, CH4 & CO2) at a Southern Hemisphere urban site. Atmospheric Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.11.041.

  • Burney, J., and V. Ramanathan. 2014. Recent climate and air pollution impacts on Indian agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (46): 16319–16324. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1317275111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corbari, C., F. Lassini, and M. Mancini. 2016. Effect of intense short rainfall events on coastal water quality parameters from remote sensing data. Continental Shelf Research 123: 18–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2016.04.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Creamean, J.M., P.J. Neiman, T. Coleman, C.J. Senff, G. Kirgis, R.J. Alvarez, and A. Yamamoto. 2016. Colorado air quality impacted by long-range-transported aerosol: A set of case studies during the 2015 Pacific Northwest fires. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 16 (18): 12329–12345. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12329-2016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doty, B.E., and J.L. Kinter III. 1995. Geophysical data analysis and visualization using GrADS. In Visualization techniques in space and atmospheric sciences, ed. E.P. Szuszczewicz and J.H. Bredekamp, 209–219. Washington, D.C.: NASA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dwivedi, R., P. Priyaja, M. Rafeeq, and M. Sudhakar. 2015. MODIS-Aqua detects Noctiluca scintillans and hotspots in the central Arabian Sea. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 188 (50)., published online December 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-5041-1.

  • Farrow, A., M. Didace, S. Cook, and R. Buruchara. 2011. Assessing the risk of root rots in common beans in East Africa using simulated, estimated and observed daily rainfall data. Experimental Agriculture 47: 357. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0014479710000980.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feister, U., G. Meyer, G. Laschewski, and C. Boettcher. 2015. Validation of modeled daily erythemal exposure along tropical and subtropical shipping routes by ship-based and satellite-based measurements. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres 120. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD023005.

  • Ganguly, N.D. 2016. Atmospheric changes observed during April 2015 Nepal earthquake. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 140: 16–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2016.01.017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jury, M.R. 2012. Physical oceanographic influences on central Benguela fish catch. Earth Interactions 16: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1175/2012EI421.1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jutla, A.S., A.S. Akanda, and S. Islam. 2010. Tracking cholera in coastal regions using satellite observations. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00448.x.

  • Kehrwald, N.M., L.G. Thompson, Y. Tandong, E. Mosley-Thompson, U. Schotterer, V. Alfimov, J. Beer, J. Eikenberg, and M.E. Davis. 2008. Mass loss on Himalayan glacier endangers water resources. Geophysical Research Letters 35: L22503. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL035556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kishcha, P., B. Starobinets, O. Kalashnikova, and P. Alpert. 2011. Aerosol optical thickness trends and population growth in the Indian subcontinent. International Journal of Remote Sensing: 13 pages. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2010.550333.

  • Koplitz, S.N., L.J. Mickley, M.E. Marlier, J.J. Buonocore, P.S. Kim, T. Liu, M.P. Sulprizio, R.S. DeFries, D.J. Jacob, J. Schwartz, M. Pongsiri, and S.S. Myers. 2016. Public health impacts of the severe haze in Equatorial Asia in September–October 2015: Demonstration of a new framework for informing fire management strategies to reduce downwind smoke exposure. Environmental Research Letters 11 (9): 11 pages. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/094023.

  • Lamchin, M., J.-Y. Lee, W.-Y. Lee, E.J. Lee, M. Kim, C.-H. Lim, H.-A. Choi, and S.-R. Kim. 2015. Assessment of land cover change and desertification using remote sensing technology in a local region of Mongolia. Advances in Space Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2015.10.006, available online October 14, 2015, 14 pages.

  • Lu, Z., D.G. Streets, Q. Zhang, S. Wang, G.R. Carmichael, Y.F. Cheng, C. Wei, M. Chin, T. Diehl, and Q. Tan. 2010. Sulfur dioxide emissions in China and sulfur trends in East Asia since 2000. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 10: 6311–6331, www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/6311/2010/. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-6311-2010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Makgabutlane, M., and C.Y. Wright. 2015. Real-time measurement of outdoor worker’s exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation in Pretoria, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 111 (5/6)., 7 pages. https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2015/20140133.

  • McElroy, J.H., and R.A. Williamson. 2004. The evolution of earth science research from space: NASA’s earth observing system. In Chapter 4 in Exploring the unknown, Volume VI: Space and earth science, ed. J.M. Logsdon, S.J. Garber, R.D. Launius, and R.A. Williamson. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, ISBN 0160731356.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNally, A., K. Arsenault, S. Kumar, S. Shukla, P. Peterson, S. Wang, C. Funk, C. Peters-Lidard, and James P. Verdin. 2017. A land data assimilation system for sub-Saharan Africa food and water security applications. Scientific Data 4: 170012, 19 pages. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Midekisa, A., G. Senay, G.M. Henebry, P. Semuniguse, and M.C. Wimberly. 2012. Remote sensing-based time series models for malaria early warning in the highlands of Ethiopia. Malaria Journal 11: 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-11-165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreno-Madrinan, M.J., W.L. Crosson, L. Eisen, S.M. Estes, M.G. Estes Jr., M. Hayden, S.N. Hemmings, D.E. Irwin, S. Lozano-Fuentes, A.J. Monaghan, D. Quattrochi, C.M. Welsh-Rodriguez, and E. Zielinski-Gutierrez. 2014. Correlating remote sensing data with the abundance of pupae of the dengue virus mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti, in Central Mexico. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Informatics 3 (2): 732–749. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi3020732.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan, G., D. Tang, and Y. Zhang. 2012. Satellite monitoring of phytoplankton in the East Mediterranean Sea after the 2006 Lebanon oil spill. International Journal of Remote Sensing 33 (23): 7482–7490. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2012.685982.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parisi, A.V., A. Amar, and D.P. Igoe. 2017. Long-term UV dosimeter based on polyvinyl chloride for plant damage effective UV exposure measurements. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 243: 68–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2017.05.012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rebaudet, S., P. Gazin, R. Barrais, S. Moore, E. Rossignol, N. Barthelemy, J. Gaudart, J. Boncy, R. Magloire, and R. Piarroux. 2013. The dry season in Haiti: a window of opportunity to eliminate cholera. PLOS Currents: Outbreaks. 2013 Jun 10 [last modified: 2013 Jul 24]. Edition 1. https://doi.org/10.1371/currents.outbreaks.2193a0ec4401d9526203af12e5024ddc.

  • Serrano, M., J. Cañada, J.C. Moreno, and G. Gurrea. 2014. Personal UV exposure for different outdoor sports. Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences 13 (4): 671–679. https://doi.org/10.1039/C3PP50348H.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simha, C.P., P.C.S. Devara, and S.K. Saha. 2013. Aerosol pollution and its impact on regional climate during Holi festival inferred from ground-based and satellite remote sensing observations. Natural Hazards: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-013-0743-6.

  • Singh, S.K., A.C. Pandey, and M.S. Nathawat. 2011. Rainfall variability and spatio-temporal dynamics of flood inundation during the 2008 Kosi flood in Bihar State, India. Asian Journal of Earth Sciences 4 (1): 9–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sitnov, S. 2011. Weekly variations in temperature and precipitation in Moscow: Relation with weekly cycles of air pollutants and synoptic variability. Izvestiya Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics 47 (4): 445–456. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433811040098.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soebiyanto, R.P., W. Clara, J. Jara, L. Castillo, O.R. Sorto, S. Marinero, M.E. Barnett de Antinori, J.P. McCracken, M.-A. Widdowson, E. Azziz-Baumgartner, and R.K. Kiang. 2014. The role of temperature and humidity on seasonal influenza in tropical areas: Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama, 2008–2013. PLoS One 9 (6)., 11 pages. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100659.

  • Stumpf, R.P., T.T. Wynne, D.B. Baker, and G.L. Fahnenstiel. 2012. Interannual variability of cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Erie. PLoS One 7 (8): e42444. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0042444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan, C.K., J. Ishizaka, A. Manda, E. Siswanto, and S.C. Tripathy. 2007. Assessing post-tsunami effects on ocean colour at eastern Indian Ocean using MODIS Aqua satellite. In: “Satellite Observations Related to Sumatra Tsunami and Earthquake of 26 December 2004”. International Journal of Remote Sensing 13–14: 3055–3069.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tesi, T., S. Miserocchi, F. Acri, L. Langone, A. Boldrin, J.A. Hatten, and S. Albertazzi. 2013. Flood-driven transport of sediment, particulate organic matter, and nutrients from the Po River watershed to the Mediterranean Sea. Journal of Hydrology 498: 144–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.06.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilburg, C.E., L.M. Jordan, A.E. Carlson, S.I. Zeeman, and P.O. Yund. 2015. The effects of precipitation, river discharge, land use and coastal circulation on water quality in coastal Maine. Royal Society Open Science 2: 140429. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.140429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wainwright, L., A.V. Parisi, and N. Downs. 2016. Dual calibrated dosimeter for simultaneous measurements of erythemal and vitamin D effective solar ultraviolet radiation. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 157: 15–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2016.02.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wijesundera, I., M.N. Halgamuge, T. Nanayakkara, and T. Nirmalathas. 2016. Chapter 2: Predicting cyclone induced flood: A comprehensive case study. In Natural disasters, when will they reach me? Springer Natural Hazards Series, ed. I. Wijesundera, M.N. Halgamuge, T. Nanayakkara, and T. Nirmalathas, 29–66. Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1113-9_3.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, C.Y., P.N. Albers, A. Mathee, Z. Kunene, C. D'Este, A. Swaminathan, and R.M. Lucas. 2017. Sun protection to improve vaccine effectiveness in children in a high ambient ultraviolet radiation and rural environment: An intervention study. BMC Public Health 17 (37): 8 pages. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3966-0.

  • Wu, J., M. Yunus, Md.S. Islam, and M. Emch. 2016. Influence of climate extremes and land use on fecal contamination of shallow tubewells in Bangladesh. Environmental Science and Technology 50 (5): 2669–2676. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b05193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu, B., F. Chen, B. Li, L. Wang, and M. Wu. 2017. Fire risk prediction using remote sensed products: A case of Cambodia. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing 83 (1): 19–25. https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.83.1.19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zaninovich, S.C., J.L. Fontana, and M.G. Gatti. 2016. Atlantic Forest replacement by non-native tree plantations: Comparing aboveground necromass between native forest and pine plantation ecosystems. Forest Ecology and Management 363: 39–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2015.12.022.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Melanie Ventura, summer intern at the GES DISC from Fairmont Heights High School, Landover, Maryland, performed the relative humidity-temperature-discomfort index analyses presented in the case study. The contributions of the data providers, mission specialists, and research scientists who provide the various datasets in Giovanni are recognized with gratitude. Finally, all of the research and applications performed with the system would not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of the Giovanni development team members, both past and present.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), AdnetSystems, Inc., Greenbelt, MD, USA

    James G. Acker

Authors
  1. James G. Acker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James G. Acker .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA

    Fazlay S. Faruque

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Acker, J.G. (2022). Using the NASA Giovanni System to Assess and Evaluate Remotely-Sensed and Model Data Variables Relevant to Public Health Issues. In: Faruque, F.S. (eds) Geospatial Technology for Human Well-Being and Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71377-5_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation