210 - Refinement of AGDISP for wide-area space sprays in mosquito control

Abstract: The American Mosquito Control Association has secured a grant to work toward the refinement of the AGDISP™ model. Ultimately, refined models would allow for more efficacious applications while not creating excessive limitations on the chemicals available.

This presentation will provide an overview of the experimental design providing a glimpse of the data generated to date. Each treatment includes two different habitats, an open field versus an obstructed habitat. The two different habitats at each site will be treated at the average operational altitude, with three distinct airframes: a crewed rotary, crewed fixed wing, and Uncrewed Aerial Spray System (UASS) over a range of meteorological conditions. Data will also be gathered at the lowest labelled altitude of 100ft to gather worse case data. To make this endeavour nationally relevant we will run trials in three geographically distinct areas. We begin in Florida, which is characterized by a subtropical climate with high humidity, frequent rainfall, and warm temperatures. We aim then to move to a central plane’s location followed by an urban model in California.

This is an exciting new endeavour which will mesh a multitude of studies to formally underscore the importance of judicious space spraying in mosquito control. Providing empirical data to the regulators and AGDISP modernization team to accurately represent our impact during risk assessment.