AlphaEarth Satellite Embeddings Predict Climate-Sensitive Disease Outcomes

A recent investigation published on arXiv (2605.10949) examines the 64-dimensional satellite embeddings from the AlphaEarth Foundation as indicators of health outcomes related to population, specifically targeting malaria, childhood acute respiratory infections, and child undernutrition. These three health issues lead to over two million deaths each year among children under five, primarily in low and middle-income nations where climate variability influences transmission and exposure. In these areas, regular health monitoring is often limited and reactive. Satellite-derived data presents a scalable, cost-effective alternative to conventional covariates, although its effectiveness has not been thoroughly explored. This research consolidates findings from three studies on infectious diseases and stunting, illustrating that the embeddings can predict health outcomes with adequate spatial detail. The objective is to enhance global health resilience through improved modeling of climate-sensitive diseases.