Spatiotemporal assessment of airborne pollen in the urban environment: The pollenscape of Thessaloniki as a case study

Charalampopoulos, Athanasios; Damialis, Athanasios; Lazarina, Maria; Halley, John M.; Vokou, Despoina

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118185

Cited by 23 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…In subsequent years, those areas were rebuilt which resulted in a reduction in the number of Poaceous and Artemisia plants in the neighborhood of the sites and concomitantly a reduction in API of those species is observed in those subsequent decades. Previous studies also indicate that increasing levels of urbanization result in lower grass pollen concentrations (40,41), which would explain why the trend in herbaceous plant pollen concentrations is generally downward in the largest cities of this study. In the case of grasses, this decrease in intensity is accompanied by a longer season length (due to a progressively earlier start of the season).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Long-Term Pollen Monitoring in the Benelux: Evaluation of Allergenic Pollen Levels and Temporal Variations of Pollen Seasons

Weger¹,

Bruffaerts²,

Koenders³

et al. 2021

Front. Allergy

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Airborne pollen is a major cause of allergic rhinitis, affecting between 10 and 30% of the population in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (Benelux). Allergenic pollen is produced by wind pollinating plants and released in relatively low to massive amounts. Current climate changes, in combination with increasing urbanization, are likely to affect the presence of airborne allergenic pollen with respect to exposure intensity, timing as well as duration. Detailed analysis of long-term temporal trends at supranational scale may provide more comprehensive insight into these phenomena. To this end, the Spearman correlation was used to statistically compare the temporal trends in airborne pollen concentration monitored at the aerobiological stations which gathered the longest time-series (30–44 years) in the Benelux with a focus on the allergenic pollen taxa: Alnus, Corylus, Betula, Fraxinus, Quercus, Platanus, Poaceae, and Artemisia. Most arboreal species showed an overall trend toward an increase in the annual pollen integral and peak values and an overall trend toward an earlier start and end of the pollen season, which for Betula resulted in a significant decrease in season length. For the herbaceous species (Poaceae and Artemisia), the annual pollen integral and peak values showed a decreasing trend. The season timing of Poaceae showed a trend toward earlier starts and longer seasons in all locations. In all, these results show that temporal variations in pollen levels almost always follow a common trend in the Benelux, suggesting a similar force of climate change-driven factors, especially for Betula where a clear positive correlation was found between changes in temperature and pollen release over time. However, some trends were more local-specific indicating the influence of other environmental factors, e.g., the increasing urbanization in the surroundings of these monitoring locations. The dynamics in the observed trends can impact allergic patients by increasing the severity of symptoms, upsetting the habit of timing of the season, complicating diagnosis due to overlapping pollen seasons and the emergence of new symptoms due allergens that were weak at first.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Long-Term Pollen Monitoring in the Benelux: Evaluation of Allergenic Pollen Levels and Temporal Variations of Pollen Seasons

Weger¹,

Bruffaerts²,

Koenders³

et al. 2021

Front. Allergy

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“…In light of the potential human health impact, the evaluation should be performed for the days where the pollen concentrations are significant. Although a threshold of more than 5% of the pollen intensity has been proposed for Thessaloniki [21], preliminary tests for the studied period showed that a value of 1% is more suitable, at least for Quercus pollen, reflecting the most significant concentrations (see also Figure 2). Thus, the evaluation will be performed for the simulation period for the daily pollen concentrations exceeding 1% of the total pollen intensity.…”

Section: Measurements and Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Proc. 2021, 8, 15 2 of 8 taxa that might be significant for a specific area; one such case is Quercus, which is abundant in the Mediterranean countries, such as Spain and Greece [21], (2) the models provide fields at 10 km spatial resolution, which might suffer from local meteorological conditions, such as mountain breezes [20], and (3) they do not provide exposure maps, an information easily understood by non-scientists. The aim of this study is the creation of a high-resolution modeling system, which will be able to predict with accuracy the Quercus surface pollen concentrations and the respective exposure levels.…”

Section: Modeling Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The respective daily Quercus pollen concentrations are taken from a station located at the Department of Biology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (40 • 38 00.2" N 22 • 57 27.0" E), at 30 m a.g.l. This station operates continuously for more than 30 years [37,38], using a Bukard sampler, the standard pollen monitoring method [21,39]. Data from this station are also used to evaluate the exposure levels associate with the Quercus concentrations.…”

Section: Measurements and Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Europe, a significant effort is undertaken by the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service, utilizing several models that estimate the surface pollen concentrations from specific taxa, with as the aim the protection of the population of the EU [19,20]. Although useful, these products have three disadvantages: (1) they do not provide pollen for taxa that might be significant for a specific area; one such case is Quercus, which is abundant in the Mediterranean countries, such as Spain and Greece [21], (2) the models provide fields at 10 km spatial resolution, which might suffer from local meteorological conditions, such as mountain breezes [20], and (3) they do not provide exposure maps, an information easily understood by non-scientists.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Estimating the Exposure Levels of Quercus Pollen: A Case Study in the Greater Area of Thessaloniki, Greece

Kontos

Parliari

Papadogiannaki

et al. 2021

The 4th International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences

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In this study the exposure levels from Quercus pollen in the greater area of Thessaloniki are estimated. The estimation is implemented with a modeling system, comprising the meteorological model WRF, the Natural Emissions Model (NEMO) for the calculation of the Quercus pollen emissions and the chemistry-transport model CAMx for the advection and the deposition of the pollen particles. The period of 2016 with the highest potential is selected, based on the available measurements for the area of interest. The modeling system is evaluated with meteorological and pollen measurements, as well on the expected exposure levels, indicating a satisfactory overall performance. The modeling system is finally utilized for the estimation of exposure levels in the greater area of Thessaloniki, showing that the city of is not going to experience significant number of days with high Quercus pollen concentrations, although other, smaller cities and towns might be affected.

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Spatiotemporal assessment of aeromycoflora under differing urban green space, sampling height, and meteorological regimes: the atmospheric fungiscape of Thessaloniki, Greece

2022

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Spatiotemporal assessment of airborne pollen in the urban environment: The pollenscape of Thessaloniki as a case study

Cited by 23 publications

References 67 publications

Long-Term Pollen Monitoring in the Benelux: Evaluation of Allergenic Pollen Levels and Temporal Variations of Pollen Seasons

Long-Term Pollen Monitoring in the Benelux: Evaluation of Allergenic Pollen Levels and Temporal Variations of Pollen Seasons

Estimating the Exposure Levels of Quercus Pollen: A Case Study in the Greater Area of Thessaloniki, Greece

Spatiotemporal assessment of aeromycoflora under differing urban green space, sampling height, and meteorological regimes: the atmospheric fungiscape of Thessaloniki, Greece

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