This tool produces maps of estimated vegetation using data from NASA's MODIS sensor.
In some semi-arid regions of eastern Africa, precipitation has been found to have a 2-3 month lagged correlation with malaria incidence. Due to the lack of station data and because of the lagged nature of precipitation yielding lagged plant growth, vegetation indicies have been used as a proxy measure to forecast malaria.
Two vegetation indices are provided: NDVI, EVI in addition to the reflectance values for the blue, red, near infrared and middle infrared channels. Each index is derived from data provided from The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), a key instrument aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites.
Contact help@iri.columbia.edu with any technical questions or problems with this Map Room, for example, the forecasts not displaying or updating properly.