Abstract
Episodes with high air pollution and large amounts of aeroallergens expose sensitive individuals to a health damaging cocktail of atmospheric particles. Particulate matter (PM) affects the radiative balance and atmospheric dynamics, hence affecting concentrations of pollutants. The aim of the study is to estimate feedback between meteorology and particles on concentrations of aeroallergens using an extended version of the atmospheric model WRF-Chem. The extension, originally designed for PM and dust, concerns common aeroallergens. We study a birch pollen episode coinciding with an air pollution event containing Saharan dust (late March to early April 2014), using the model results, pollen records from Southern UK and vertical profiles of meteorological observations. During the episode, increased concentrations of birch pollen were calculated over the European continent, causing plumes transported towards the UK. The arrival of these plumes matched well with observations. The lowest parts of the atmospheric boundary layer demonstrate a vertical profile that favours long distance transport, while the pollen record shows pollen types that typically flower at another time. The model calculations show that feedback between meteorology and particles changes pollen concentrations by ±30% and in some cases up to 100%. The atmospheric conditions favoured meteorological feedback mechanisms that changed long distance transport of air pollution and aeroallergens.
Highlights
Allergic rhinitis (AR), caused by bioaerosols with allergenic contents, is estimated to negatively affect 400 million people worldwide and more than 300 million from asthma [1]
A change in mesoscale meteorology impacts air mass transport and long distance transport (LDT) of particles. This suggests that air pollution episodes, in particular those with high particulate matter associated with transport of desert dust, could simultaneously coincide with LDT of several different aeroallergens and impact mesoscale meteorology, significantly affecting the concentrations of the aeroallergens involved
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Summary
Allergic rhinitis (AR), caused by bioaerosols with allergenic contents, is estimated to negatively affect 400 million people worldwide and more than 300 million from asthma [1]. A change in mesoscale meteorology impacts air mass transport and LDT of particles This suggests that air pollution episodes, in particular those with high particulate matter associated with transport of desert dust, could simultaneously coincide with LDT of several different aeroallergens and impact mesoscale meteorology, significantly affecting the concentrations of the aeroallergens involved. We test this hypothesis through the use of an atmospheric model handling both air pollutants, bioaerosols and feedback, based on an extension of WRF-Chem [26,27]. We combine this with an analysis of the atmosphere focusing on its vertical structure during the episode using both observations and model calculations with and without feedback
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