Estimating the abundance of airborne pollen and fungal spores at variable elevations using an aircraft: how high can they fly?

Damialis, Athanasios; Kaimakamis, Evangelos; Konoglou, Maria; Akritidis, Ioannis; Traidl‐Hoffmann, Claudia; Gioulekas, Dimitrios

doi:10.1038/srep44535

Cited by 68 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The height declines during the afternoon coincident with a southerly sea breeze, but is still above 1200 m at 17:00 AEDT. The nocturnal boundary layer is around 200 m. Over 77 % of grass pollen is found at ground level (Damialis et al, 2017) due to its size and density. The lifetime of our model pollen over 1 km is 6 h. The model RH is more negatively correlated with grass pollen levels (average r = −0.52) than is observed.…”

Section: Observed and Modelled Pollen Correlations With Meteorologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Victoria had ex-perienced the world's largest epidemic thunderstorm asthma event. In the aftermath, the state government funded better planning of healthcare resources to improve preparedness and response arrangements for similar events in the future (Davies et al, 2017;Lindstrom et al, 2017). This plan included the development of a pilot thunderstorm asthma early-warning service using statistical pollen forecasts , operated by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), and the concurrent development of a pollen forecasting system, built around pollen emission and transport modelling.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Development and evaluation of pollen source methodologies for the Victorian Grass Pollen Emissions Module VGPEM1.0

Emmerson¹,

Silver²,

Newbigin³

et al. 2019

Geosci. Model Dev.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. We present the first representation of grass pollen in a 3-D dispersion model in Australia, tested using observations from eight counting sites in Victoria. The region's population has high rates of allergic rhinitis and asthma, and this has been linked to the high incidence of grass pollen allergy. Despite this, grass pollen dispersion in the Australian atmosphere has not been studied previously, and its source strength is untested. We describe 10 pollen emission source methodologies examining the strengths of different immediate and seasonal timing functions, and the spatial distribution of the sources. The timing function assumes a smooth seasonal term, modulated by an hourly meteorological function. A simple Gaussian representation of the pollen season worked well (average r=0.54), but lacked the spatial and temporal variation that the satellite-derived enhanced vegetation index (EVI) can provide. However, poor results were obtained using the EVI gradient (average r=0.35), which provides the timing when grass turns from maximum greenness to a drying and flowering period; this is due to noise in the spatial and temporal variability from this combined spatial and seasonal term. Better results were obtained using statistical methods that combine elements of the EVI dataset, a smooth seasonal term and instantaneous variation based on historical grass pollen observations (average r=0.69). The seasonal magnitude is inferred from the maximum winter-time EVI, whereas the timing of the season peak is based on the day of the year when the EVI falls to 0.05 below its winter maximum. Measurements are vital to monitor changes in the pollen season, and the new pollen measurement sites in the Victorian network should be maintained.

show abstract

Section: Observed and Modelled Pollen Correlations With Meteorologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and evaluation of pollen source methodologies for the Victorian Grass Pollen Emissions Module VGPEM1.0

Emmerson¹,

Silver²,

Newbigin³

et al. 2019

Geosci. Model Dev.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Die Strategie der Allergenvermeidung ist bei Nahrungsmitteln, Tierhaaren oder Duftstoffen besonders effektiv, jedoch wenig wirksam bei luftgetragenen Pollen [4]. Die geringe Pollenkorngröße (Abb.…”

Section: Transfer In Die Praxis Von Prof Dr Claudia Traidl-hoffmannunclassified

Pollenallergie gegen Ambrosia: Belastungen, Merkmale und Umgang mit einem importierten Allergieverursacher in Europa

Traidl‐Hoffmann

2019

Kompass Pneumol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ambrosia artemisiifolia, also known as common or short ragweed, is an invasive annual flowering herbaceous plant that has its origin in North America. Nowadays, ragweed can be found in many areas worldwide. Ragweed pollen is known for its high potential to cause type I allergic reactions in late summer and autumn and represents a major health problem in America and several countries in Europe. Climate change and urbanization, as well as long distance transport capacity, enhance the spread of ragweed pollen. Therefore ragweed is becoming domestic in non-invaded areas which in turn will increase the sensitization rate. So far 11 ragweed allergens have been described and, according to IgE reactivity, Amb a 1 and Amb a 11 seem to be major allergens. Sensitization rates of the other allergens vary between 10 and 50%. Most of the allergens have already been recombinantly produced, but most of them have not been characterized regarding their allergenic activity, therefore no conclusion on the clinical relevance of all the allergens can be made, which is important and necessary for an accurate diagnosis. Pharmacotherapy is the most common treatment for ragweed pollen allergy but fails to impact on the course of allergy. Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) is the only causative and disease-modifying treatment of allergy with long-lasting effects, but currently it is based on the administration of ragweed pollen extract or Amb a 1 only. In order to improve ragweed pollen AIT, new strategies are required with higher efficacy and safety.

show abstract

“…Inadequate forecasts concerning the expected pollen concentration are regarded as a considerable health risk for pollen allergy sufferers (Bastl et al, 2017). Damialis et al (2017) just recently reported the first basic experiments measuring pollen concentrations at considerable altitudes above ground level by using a manned aircraft. However, this research has shown that the use of a manned aircraft in densely populated areas is limited and further requires considerable organizational and financial effort.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this regard, particle collection with subsequent particle-type identification and quantification has an advantage over particle counting, at least as long as reliable in situ particle identification is not available. First attempts to collect bioaerosol particles using a pollen trap mounted on a fixed-wing UAV are described in Gottwald and Tedders (1985). Another way to realize the collection of airborne particles is to use a tethered balloon with rotating rods for capturing airborne pollen grains (Comtois et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new multicopter-based unmanned aerial system for pollen and spores collection in the atmospheric boundary layer

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The application of a new particle collection system (PCS) developed in-house and operated on board a commercially available multicopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is presented as a new unmanned aerial system (UAS) approach for in situ measurement of the concentration of aerosol particles such as pollen grains and spores in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). A newly developed impactor is used for high-efficiency particle extraction on board the multicopter UAV. An airflow volume of 0.2 m3 min−1 through the impactor is provided by a battery-powered blower and measured with an on-board mass flow sensor. A bell-mouth-shaped air inlet of the PCS is arranged and oriented on the multicopter UAV to provide substantial isokinetic sampling conditions by advantageously using the airflow pattern generated by the propellers of the multicopter UAV. More than 30 aerosol particle collection flights were carried out near Tübingen in March 2017 at altitudes of up to 300 m above ground level (a.g.l.), each with a sampled air volume of 2 m3. Pollen grains and spores of various genera, as well as large (>20 µm) opaque particles and fine dust particles, were collected, and specific concentrations of up to 100 particles per m3 were determined by visual microscopic analysis. The pollen concentration values measured with the new UAS match well with the pollen concentration data published by the Stiftung Deutscher Polleninformationsdienst (PID) and by MeteoSwiss. A major advantage of the new multicopter-based UAS is the possibility of the identification of collected aerosol particles and the measurement of their concentration with high temporal and spatial resolutions, which can be used inter alia to improve the database for modelling the propagation of aerosol particles in the ABL.

show abstract

Estimating the abundance of airborne pollen and fungal spores at variable elevations using an aircraft: how high can they fly?

Cited by 68 publications

References 47 publications

Development and evaluation of pollen source methodologies for the Victorian Grass Pollen Emissions Module VGPEM1.0

Development and evaluation of pollen source methodologies for the Victorian Grass Pollen Emissions Module VGPEM1.0

Pollenallergie gegen Ambrosia: Belastungen, Merkmale und Umgang mit einem importierten Allergieverursacher in Europa

A new multicopter-based unmanned aerial system for pollen and spores collection in the atmospheric boundary layer

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About