Using very high spatial resolution remote sensing to monitor and combat outbreaks of bubonic plague in Kazakhstan Elisabeth A. Addink 1 Steven M. de Jong 1 Stephen A. Davis 2 Vladimir Dubyanskiy 3 Herwig Leirs 4 1 Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University POBox 80.115 3508 TC Utrecht The Netherlands e.addink@geo.uu.nl, s.dejong@geo.uu.nl 2 School of Medicine, Yale University POBox 208.034, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8034 USA Stephen.a.davis@yale.edu 3 Kazakh Scientific Centre for Quarantine and Zoonotic Diseases 14 Kapalskaya Street, Almaty 480074, Republic of Kazakhstan dvmplague@rambler.ru 4 Department of Biology, University of Antwerp Groenenborgerlaan 171, BE-2020 Antwerp, Belgium Herwig.leirs@ua.ac.be Abstract. Bubonic plague, caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, persists as a public health problem in many parts of the world, including central Kazakhstan. Bubonic plague occurs most often in humans through a flea bite, when a questing flea fails to find a rodent host. For many of the plague foci in Kazakhstan the great gerbil is the major host of plague, a social rodent well-adapted to desert environments. Intensive monitoring and prevention started in 1947, reducing the number of cases and mortalities enormously. However, the monitoring is labour- intensive and hence expensive and is now under threat due to financial restraints. Previous research showed that the occupancy rate of the burrow-systems of the great gerbil is a strong indicator for the probability of a plague outbreak. The burrow-systems are around 30m in diameter with a bare surface. This paper aims to demonstrate the automatic classification of burrow-systems in satellite images using object-oriented analysis. We performed a field campaign in September 2007 and acquired a QuickBird image in the same period. Overall accuracy of the classification reached 95%, providing proof of concept that automatic mapping of burrow-systems using high- resolution satellite images is possible. Such maps, by better defining great gerbil foci, locating new or expanding foci and measuring the density of great gerbil burrow-systems could play a major role in a renewed monitoring system by better directing surveillance and control efforts. Furthermore, if similar analyses can separate occupied burrow-systems from empty ones, then very-high-resolution images stand to play a crucial role in plague surveillance throughout central Asia. Keywords: Plague, Yersinia pestis, Rhombomys opimus, QuickBird imagery, Object-based image analysis 1. Introduction Bubonic plague is best known for its disastrous effects that it had in the mid 14 th century. This outbreak of bubonic plague, more commonly referred to as the black death or black plague, was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. Death toll estimates greatly vary but it is believed that in southern Europe around 75% of the population fell victim and in central Europe around 50% of the population died from this disease. The plague disease, caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, is commonly present in populations of ground rodents in central Asia, but it is not entirely clear where the 14th century pandemic started. 7529 próximo artigo Anais XIV Simpósio Brasileiro de Sensoriamento Remoto, Natal, Brasil, 25-30 abril 2009, INPE, p. 7529-7536.