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Ofcourse, there are two different meanings to the question how high something can fly, the height above sea level, or the height above ground level (which is a relevant different if you are high up in a mountain - where the lower air density might still make flight more difficult, even though you may still be close to the ground).
In Africa, some higher areas are reported to be free of malaria transmitting mosquitoes, not because of lower air density but because of lower temperatures at higher altitudes. Due to global warming some of the areas that used to be free of mosquitoes are now also invaded by them.
Malaria in England in the Little Ice Agefrom Emerging Infectious DiseasesPaul Reiter, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, San Juan, Puerto RicoAbstract and IntroductionAbstractPresent global temperatures are in a warming phase that began 200 to 300 years ago. Some climate models suggest that human activities may have exacerbated this phase by raising the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Discussions of the potential effects of the weather include predictions that malaria will emerge from the tropics and become established in Europe and North America. The complex ecology and transmission dynamics of the disease, as well as accounts of its early history, refute such predictions. Until the second half of the 20th century, malaria was endemic and widespread in many temperate regions, with major epidemics as far north as the Arctic Circle. From 1564 to the 1730s--the coldest period of the Little Ice Age--malaria was an important cause of illness and death in several parts of England. Transmission began to decline only in the 19th century, when the present warming trend was well under way. The history of the disease in England underscores the role of factors other than temperature in malaria transmission.IntroductionThe earth's climate has always been in a state of change. The past 250 to 300 years have seen a fairly steady warming trend. Average temperatures are now approaching those at the height of the Medieval Warm Period, near the end of the 12th century. The intervening centuries included a much colder period, the Little Ice Age, by far the most important climatic fluctuation in recent history[1]. Such fluctuations, spanning several generations, are natural phenomena that have recurred several times in the past 10,000 years. They take place against a backdrop of episodes of longer duration and greater impact, such as the last Ice Age (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago). In recent years, there has been growing concern that human activities may be modifying the natural climate. A decline in temperatures from the 1940s to the late 1970s gave rise to warnings that industrial pollutants were causing global cooling[2,3]. Subsequent warming has been attributed to increased concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels, and other greenhouse gases[4]. Climate models suggest that this trend could accelerate in the coming century, although the contribution of human-induced greenhouse gases to global temperatures is far from clear[4-6].Discussions of the potential impact of human-induced global warming frequently include malaria, a disease widely perceived as tropical. Articles in the popular and scientific press have predicted that warmer temperatures will result in malaria transmission in Europe and North America[7-12]. Such predictions, often based on simple computer models, overlook malaria's history; until recently, malaria was endemic and common in many temperate regions, and major epidemics extended as far north as the Arctic Circle[13]. Despite the disappearance of the disease from most of these regions, the indigenous mosquitoes that transmitted it were never eliminated and remain common in some areas. Thus, although temperature is important in the transmission dynamics of malaria, many other variables are of equal or greater importance. This article reviews the history of the disease in a nontropical country--England--during the coldest years of the Little Ice Age.
as high as his wings will take him
How high can a mosquito(the insect) fly?
apparently at least 5 feet. i have a mosquito bite on my forehead
I mean how high with relative to the ground.
ERR I think if caught by an up thrust of hot wind it could go quite high, but I dont know that that would qualify as it diddnt actually fly- it was pushed!
QuoteERR I think if caught by an up thrust of hot wind it could go quite high, but I dont know that that would qualify as it diddnt actually fly- it was pushed!Jolly. Many birds use wind & thermals to gain altitude do you class that as flying.