Student Research Reports

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Extreme weather events are becoming increasingly frequent and destructive as a result of large-scale climate change, leading to changing environments for organisms ranging from the microbial level to the macroscopic level. The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the ecological effects that extreme weather events, specifically hurricanes and droughts, have regarding the spread of West Nile Virus. In addition, by utilizing this study's data, we will form a data-driven hypothesis of the long-term effects of more frequent weather events on similar regions over time. Using GLOBE’s Advanced Data Access Tool, disease reports created by the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, NOAA Climate Monitoring Tool, and NASA’s Land Assimilation Data Tool, we will conduct two case studies using Hurricane Harvey in Texas (2017) and the Black Forest Fire in Colorado (2012). For the former, we will focus on Harris County, Texas, and for the latter, we will focus on El Paso County, Colorado. For each individual case study, we will conduct a comparative analysis of the region utilizing data five years prior to and post each event as well as data gathered during the event period. The data collected will be analyzed through time series models and standardized anomaly indexes to determine the effects of the events on the soil moisture, precipitation, average temperature, air temperature, and West Nile Virus risk in the corresponding regions. From our research, we expect our findings to display the relative effects of each extreme weather event on the spread of the West Nile Virus with an overall increase in risk due to the creation of more habitable environments for mosquitoes in each respective climate.