Atmospheric Poaceae pollen frequencies and associations with meteorological parameters in Brisbane, Australia: a 5-year record, 1994?1999

Abstract

Grass pollen is an important risk factor for allergic rhinitis and asthma in Australia and is the most prevalent pollen component of the aerospora of Brisbane, accounting for 71.6% of the annual airborne pollen load. A 5-year (June 1994-May 1999) monitoring program shows the grass pollen season to occur during the summer and autumn months (December-April), however the timing of onset and intensity of the season vary from year to year. During the pollen season, Poaceae counts exceeding 30 grains m(-3) were recorded on 244 days and coincided with maximum temperatures of 28.1 +/- 2.0 degrees C. In this study, statistical associations between atmospheric grass pollen loads and several weather parameters, including maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation, were investigated. Spearman's correlation analysis demonstrated that daily grass pollen counts were positively associated (P < 0.0001) with maximum and minimum temperature during each sampling year. Precipitation, although considered a less important daily factor (P < 0.05), was observed to remove pollen grains from the atmosphere during significant periods of rainfall. This study provides the first insight into the influence of meteorological variables, in particular temperature, on atmospheric Poaceae pollen counts in Brisbane. An awareness of these associations is critical for the prevention and management of allergy and asthma for atopic individuals within this region.

Poaceae pollen in the atmosphere of Zagreb (Croatia), 2002 – 2005

“…Therefore it is important to monitor airborne pollen concentrations in city agglomerations. In recent years, a number of publications have highlighted differences or similarities that exist with pollen in the atmosphere at various locations (Green et al 2004;Emberlin et al 1994;Galan et al 1995).…”

Relation between Poaceae pollen concentrations and meteorological factors during 2000–2010 in Timisoara, Romania

“…Other several studies found significant positive correlations between daily Poaceae pollen concentration and daily maximum temperature [31,34], daily mean temperature [35,36], and daily global solar flux [31,34]. Relative humidity and rainfall [35][36][37][38][39][40] had a negative effect. Many studies indicate some meteorological elements related to the start of Poaceae seasons: mean temperature in March-April (in the Netherlands), mean temperature before the season start (in Poland), total rainfall in July (in Australia), rainfall in June (in the Iberian Peninsula), cumulative temperature above 5.5°C in March-April, minimum temperature in the first decade of April and maximum temperature in the second decade of April (in the United Kingdom) [41][42][43][44][45][46].…”

“…Many studies indicate some meteorological elements related to the start of Poaceae seasons: mean temperature in March-April (in the Netherlands), mean temperature before the season start (in Poland), total rainfall in July (in Australia), rainfall in June (in the Iberian Peninsula), cumulative temperature above 5.5°C in March-April, minimum temperature in the first decade of April and maximum temperature in the second decade of April (in the United Kingdom) [41][42][43][44][45][46]. Daily maximum temperature (optimum 21-25°C), daily mean temperature and anticyclonic synoptic situation on the day before the forecasted day have been reported as the main variables influencing the daily Poaceae pollen concentration [8,29,39,47,48]. The interpretations of most reports are based on various methods of statistical analysis (Pearson or Spearman correlation, regression analysis, time series analysis, artificial neural networks) [49].…”

Forecasting airbornePlatanuspollen in the Madrid region

“…If the maximum delayed temperature (Tmax_r) is greater than 19.8˚C, more pollen will be detected in the aerobiological samples. Many authors establish a positive relationship between pollen concentrations and temperature (Green et al, 2004;Dvorin et al, 2001), while others estimate that a temperature of between 20 -25˚C is ideal for the detection of the greatest pollen concentrations (Andersen, 1991;Emberlin, 1994).…”