Aerobiology in South Africa: A new hope!

Ajikah, Linus Bashie; Neumann, Frank; Berman, Dilys; Peter, Jonny

doi:10.17159/sajs.2020/8112

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 14 publications

(22 reference statements)

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“…Since its inception, SAPNET has monitored airborne pollen and fungal spores in seven of the major cities across South Africa, covering multiple biomes with a diversity of climates, topographies, and vegetation types (Ref. 16 , 17 ; See Figure 1 ). An eighth site, Calvinia (a town in the Northern Cape province), was added to the network in 2021 and its results are not included here.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The South African Pollen Monitoring Network: Insights from 2 years of national aerospora sampling (2019–2021)

Esterhuizen,

Berman,

Neumann

et al. 2023

Clinical & Translational All

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BackgroundPollen monitoring has been discontinuously undertaken in South Africa, a country with high biodiversity, a seasonal rainfall gradient, and nine biomes from arid to subtropical. The South African Pollen Monitoring Network was set up in 2019 to conduct the first long‐term national aerospora monitoring across multiple biomes, providing weekly reports to allergy sufferers and healthcare providers.MethodsDaily airborne pollen concentrations were measured from August 2019 to August 2021 in seven cities across South Africa. Updated pollen calendars were created for the major pollen types (>3%), the average Annual Pollen Index over 12 months was calculated, and the results were compared to available historical data.ResultsThe main pollen types were from exotic vegetation. The most abundant taxa were Poaceae, Cupressaceae, Moraceae and Buddleja. The pollen season start, peak and end varied widely according to the biome and suite of pollen taxa. The main tree season started in the last week of August, peaked in September and ended in early December. Grass seasons followed rainfall patterns: September–January and January–April for summer and winter rainfall areas, respectively. Major urban centres, for example, Johannesburg and Pretoria in the same biome with similar rainfall, showed substantive differences in pollen taxa and abundance. Some major differences in pollen spectra were detected compared with historical data. However, we are cognisant that we are describing only 2 years of data that may be skewed by short‐term weather patterns.ConclusionsDifferences in pollen spectra and concentrations were noted across biomes and between geographically close urban centres. Comparison with historical data suggests pollen spectra and seasons may be changing due to anthropogenic climate change and landscaping. These data stress the importance of regional and continuous pollen monitoring for informed care of pollinosis.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The South African Pollen Monitoring Network: Insights from 2 years of national aerospora sampling (2019–2021)

Esterhuizen,

Berman,

Neumann

et al. 2023

Clinical & Translational All

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High aerospora levels and associated atmospheric circulation patterns: Pretoria, South Africa

Roffe,

Ajikah,

John

et al. 2024

Int J Biometeorol

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At high exposure levels, airborne pollen grains and fungal spores (termed aerospora hereafter), can trigger severe allergic respiratory diseases. For South Africa’s administrative capital Pretoria, which boasts dense vegetation within a large urban forest, it is valuable from a health perspective to understand daily atmospheric circulation patterns associated with high aerospora levels. Therefore, we utilised a daily aerospora grain count dataset collected in Pretoria from 08/2019–02/2023 to investigate atmospheric circulation patterns (derived from ERA5 reanalysis sea level pressure [SLP] and 500 hPa geopotential height [zg500] fields) associated with high-risk aerospora levels (aerospora grain count > 90th percentile). Concentrated during October-May, there were 128 high-risk days, with 69.6% of days occurring in November, February and April. Although generally above-average mid-tropospheric subsidence levels prevailed over Pretoria during high-risk days, no single distinct atmospheric circulation pattern was associated with these high-risk days. Therefore, using Principal Component Analysis, we classified 14 Circulation Weather Types (CWTs) for October-May months between 08/2019–02/2023 to assess which CWTs most frequently occurred during high-risk days. Three CWTs had a statistically significant proportion of high-risk days – collectively they occurred during 37.1% of days studied, yet accounted for 45.3% of high-risk days. Among these CWTs, two CWTs were similarly associated with surface and mid-tropospheric high-pressure conditions, while the third was associated with a surface and mid-tropospheric trough. By comparing our CWT classification to daily synoptic charts (from the South African Weather Service), our classification can be used to identify days with potentially high allergenicity risk over Pretoria.

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Relevance of aerobiological studies in Nigeria: a two-year aerospora record of Lagos

et al. 2021

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Aerobiology in South Africa: A new hope!

Cited by 6 publications

References 14 publications

The South African Pollen Monitoring Network: Insights from 2 years of national aerospora sampling (2019–2021)

The South African Pollen Monitoring Network: Insights from 2 years of national aerospora sampling (2019–2021)

High aerospora levels and associated atmospheric circulation patterns: Pretoria, South Africa

Relevance of aerobiological studies in Nigeria: a two-year aerospora record of Lagos

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