WHATCH'EM-The Water Height And Temperature in Container Habitats Energy Model

The mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, the primary vectors of dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya viruses, exploit a wide range of artificial containers as sites for oviposition and development of the immature stages. Ae. aegypti larval and pupal development are strongly dependent upon availability of water and container water temperature. Weather-driven dynamic life-table simulation models for Ae. aegypti populations - such as CIMSiM (Container Inhabiting Mosquito Simulation Model) and Skeeter Buster – simulate the evolution of mosquito cohorts primarily through a series of empirical relationships. Here we present WHATCH'EM - The Water Height And Temperature in Container Habitats Energy Model – which calculates the temperature and water level of a specified container, based on the energy balance of the water volume. The program only requires a limited amount of meteorological data (temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall) to produce water temperature and height estimates. The program takes into account variable factors such as cloudiness, shading, container size and thermal characteristics, and any manual container filling that may occur. WHATCH'EM simulates the highly non-linear manner in which atmospheric conditions and container characteristics determine water temperature and height, leading to results that are not always intuitive and likely not simulated by simpler empirical models.