New tools: potential medical applications of data from new and old environmental satellites

The last 40 years. beginning with the first TIROS (television infrared obse rvational satellite) launched on 1 April 1960, has seen an explosion of ear th environmental satellite systems and their capabilities. They can provide measurements in globe encircling arrays or small select areas, with increa sing resolutions, and new capabilities. Concurrently there are expanding nu mbers of existing and emerging infectious diseases, many distributed accord ing to areal patterns of physical conditions at the earth's surface. For th ese reasons, the medical and remote sensing communities can beneficially co llaborate with the objective of making needed progress in public health act ivities by exploiting the advances of the national and international space programs. Major improvements in applicability of remotely sensed data are b ecoming possible with increases in the four kinds of resolution: spatial, t emporal, radiometric and spectral, scheduled over the next few years. Much collaborative research will be necessary before data from these systems are fully exploited by the medical community. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. A ll rights reserved.