Copernicus Service catalogue

The Mediterranean region is densely populated and is susceptible to the transmission of human disease through air-borne vectors, such as the tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). The current changes to the climate have already seen an expansion of the area classified as climatically-suitable for the tiger mosquito, as well as changes to the length of the mosquito's breeding season around the Mediterranean. For example, highland regions are now The climatic suitability of air-borne vectors is predicted to further change under future climate change scenarios in many parts of the Mediterranean basin. This may lead to increased transmission of disease as well as the introduction of new diseases to the area. The tiger mosquito transmits diseases such as dengue and chikungunya.

The application uses climate variables such as rainfall and temperature to measure the climatic suitability and season length for the establishment of tiger mosquito. Clicking on a point on the map, or selecting a city in the search bar, will produce a mosquito-stripes bar-chart for any location within the Mediterranean bioclimatic region. The colour of the bars represent the relative change of the suitability index from the historical reference period, the actual index is for each year is visible by hovering of the bar chart. While the height of the bar represents the season length for mosquito activity in units of weeks.

The application was developed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean.