Science Cafe Posts - Mission Mosquito
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This project is all about mixing the personal stories of citizen scientists with 30 years of the GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) program. It combines these two sources, as well as other data sources, to get a complete picture of how our environment change ...
Our project for SEES 2024 was "Creating a Model to Identify High-Risk Areas for Flash Flooding in Houston, Texas." In this blog, I will discuss how we calculated which areas are "high-risk." There are many ways to identify the most at-risk points of flooding in a given region. Such points are commonly identified in a flood map, such as the one here: For our...
SEES 2024 Experience Getting the opportunity to participate in the NASA SEES Earth System Explorers program has positively impacted my educational and career journey in more ways than I could've imagined. Throughout this internship, I gained an immense amount of knowledge in Earth science, utilizing the GLOBE Observer app, ArcGIS, Collect Earth Online, Python, and many other tools...
In this blog post, I will go through every step of the internship and outline my experience! Before I do that, first of all, I would like to say that I am so happy that I got to spend my summer with SEES! This program was so amazing and helped guide me a bit more on what I want to do in my future career and in college! I am very grateful for all of our mentors who guided us through...
If you had asked me what “citizen science” was before this internship with the NASA SEES (STEM Enhancement in Earth Science) Earth System Explorers, I most likely would have conjured a description that involved studying the human body. Now, however, I feel confident in saying that citizen science is a dynamic, extraordinary meaningful process by which everyday citizens contribute to...
The wildfire data analysis journey began with a dataset comprising over 1200 points located in the California region. To uncover the correlation between land cover types and wildfire risk, we first needed to determine the wildfire risk for each point using the FEMA Wildfire Risk Map. This step involved entering coordinates into the software to obtain the wildfire risk index for each...
My group’s project focused on using land cover data and GLOBE Observer images to create a machine learning model that can predict land surface temperature - a measure of how hot the surface of the Earth feels in a given location. For context, GLOBE is short for “Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment”. It’s an app that lets volunteers across the world take...
Roboflow is an open-source dataset management platform, where users can import data, label it, and then have a model train on it. For my group's project, CS-FLARE, we used Roboflow to label brush, grass, trees, and leaf litter in our NESW Images as shown below. When I initially began labeling images, I tried using bounding boxes for each picture like the leaf litter in the image...
Adopt-a-Pixel | Where does water meet land in my community? Scanning the Area As our first assignment as part of the Earth System Explorers team, we've been tasked with making our first observations using the GLOBE Observer App. The goal was to make 12 total observations (6 Potential Mosquito Habitat & 6 Land Cover). To be more efficient, I decided to make all of my observations...
I built my mosquito traps on June 20th and ran the experiment until July 15th. I collected a total of 15 observations during this period. To construct the traps I used three identical pots to hold water. The goal of my experiment was to find which type of mosquito bait would be the most effective at attracting and sheltering mosquitos. For the three baits I used dried leaves, grass clippings,...
My mosquito trap was definitely a rollercoaster, and with this being the last required update, I still plan on seeing how the traps do after the internship finishes since this has been really interesting. To give some background, I set out three traps around 30-40 yards away from each other around my AOI so I could get an idea of how different areas may yield different results. The first trap...
Mosquito Trap Week 1 For the mosquito traps, I decided quite early on that my independent variable would be the container. I got 3 different containers; an old tire, a black bucket, and a gallon bottle/container while keeping all other factors the same. I used the same bait and the same amount of water and placed all 3 traps in my backyard behind the shade of the tree. I decided on...
AOI Fieldwork At first, collecting land cover data for 37 points within my area of interest felt like a daunting task. However, after only a few "expeditions" in the past week, I was able to complete all 37 observations. To make my work easier and more accurate, I intentionally choose an AOI that would contain as many points as possible within a nearby park. This was to ensure that I could...
My fieldwork to map land via the Globe app led me to understand where I live better. Texas is the second-largest U.S. state by both area and population. There are only four deserts in North America, and Texas is home to the Chihuahuan Desert. Texas Land Conservancy [TLC] works to conserve natural areas, protect the physical and ecological integrity of their wildlife habitat and native plant...
Concerns regarding the impact of global warming on vector-borne diseases have intensified interest in the relationship between atmospheric factors and dengue fever incidence. Global climate change poses the threat of serious social upheaval, population displacement, economic hardships, and environmental degradation. Changes in temperature, rainfall and relative humidity have potential to...
When you start writing your GLOBE report for IVSS, it might be difficult because you might not sure where to start. We tend to start writing the Methods section first because it is something you did it yourselves, and it should be relatively easy and straightforward to write. Second, you should write the Results section, do graphs, tables and texts (think of a best way to present your cool...
On May 1, 2021, I did a lot of things. Most of them involved staying home, logging in to Microsoft Teams for virtual school, and doing my homework. Little did I know that my life would change that very evening. I logged off from school and opened Outlook to check my email, and I saw it immediately: “Congratulations on your NASA virtual internship!” For the next five months, I was immersed in...
Hello! My name is Nikita A., and I am from Chicago, Illinois. I participated in the NASA SEES Internship Program during the summer of 2022 as part of the Earth System Explorers team. Our program kicked off in the first week of June with an introductory webinar that detailed the goals for the next eight weeks. For the Earth System Explorers project, our goal was to research the harm...
My experiment aims to test how two variables impact the likelihood of mosquitoes breeding. The first variable is the water type, and I am testing with tap water, filtered water, and muddy water from a local pond. The second variable is the food in which mosquitos will breed. Therefore, I will add rice water and sugarcane juice to the three water types. So, I will end up with nine...
In October, our SEES research team presented at the 2022 MIT Undergraduate Research Technology Conference (MIT URTC), becoming the first SEES team ever to be selected to present a paper at this competition. We wanted to share our experience with MIT URTC, from the starting point of our SEES research project to developing a publishable manuscript and presenting our paper at the conference. At...
I have 5 identical buckets placed in shady areas around my yard. Two of these buckets (Buckets 1 and 2) are filled with equivalent amounts of water, grasses, leaves, and dirt, while another bucket (Bucket 3) contains everything but the dirt. I wanted to examine how dirtier water could attribute to a more habitable microenvironment for mosquitoes. My two other buckets contain equivalent...
First Post: For my project, I wanted to see how CO2 emissions could affect mosquito activity. To do this, I set up 4 water bottle traps. 2 of the traps contained a solution of tap water (1 cup), sugar (1/4 cup), and yeast (1 gram). The yeast and the sugar react to release carbon dioxide. (Fermentation) The other two bottles contained a basic solution of tap water and grass. One bottle of...
For my experiment, I decided to see which fruits or foods in general that mosquitos would be attracted to. From left to right, it was the cantaloupe, watermelon, control(which is nothing), and a pineapple in the last one. I wanted to test whether different fruits or foods affected the amount of larvae and mosquitos that are born. For the first week of testing, I did not spot anything or any...
For my mosquito habitat experiment, I decided to approach it from the perspective of the size of containers. I had 5 different containers, each of which is a different size, from a small bottle to a soap bottle to the largest, a gallon jug. For the first week of testing, I was able to set up the traps in their selective locations, however, was not able to check them till week the end of week 2...
For my mosquito habitat experiment, I decided to study the depth of container. I had a large bucket, a medium bucket, and a small bucket. For the first week, I decided to add fish food, but I am thinking about adding different types of baits throughout the weeks! Here was my original set up, with it being placed under a tree in my backyard. Additionally, I had placed two...
Observation design Mosquito Monday 🦟 June 20, 2022 I checked in all 5 of my traps and only 1 was successful (homemade trap). I noticed the ones with sugar water had other bugs (dead) rather than mosquito eggs. I also notice that dirty water was less preferred than a cleaner habitat. I was so shocked to see actual larvae and so many pupas. I’ve never seen mosquito eggs before. Sadly, I...
Greetings! My experiment sought to determine which baits were most effective for mosquitos, with what resources I had on hand. To do this I placed 2 sets of samples in two adjacent parts of my AOI, with 4 mosquito traps each. I intend to check these traps every Sunday, counting the mosquito larvae and pupae that I find per trap. These traps followed the safety bottle trap design (there is...
My main goal is to see what attracts mosquitos and although there are so many variables out there I only had the resources to test 2: color vibrancy and bait! I have 6 plastic cups filled with about a cup and a half of water each in addition to their assigned "bait". 2 cups are my controls which only contain water. One is a vibrant purple while the other is white. I keep this paired design for...
Background: This experiment is based in Berryville, Virginia - a rural town with a population of about 4,500. Experimental Design: My experiment aims to answer two questions, a) What type of container (width & depth) suits mosquito breeding best, and b) What type of bait suits mosquito breeding best (naturally vs artificially produced). My variables are as follows, container type -...
Hello, my name is Christine and I’m from Redwood City! I have set up my traps near where I live. For my experiment, I wanted to test to see if mosquitos had a preference for different types of water. I made sugar water, salt water, and dog food water. I also laid out a bowl of just plain tap water as the control. So, my independent variable will be the type of water while my dependent...
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