Modelling pollen dispersal and deposition using HUMPOL software, including simulating windroses and irregular lakes

Abstract

This paper introduces a suite of software (HUMPOL) for modelling pollen dispersal and deposition. The suite uses a standard algorithm, the Sutton equation, to model pollen dispersal from vegetation sources and pollen deposition at a sampling location but handles vegetation data more flexibly than existing software packages. The suite is designed as a platform for development of new models of pollen dispersal and deposition, and the production of simulated pollen data from maps of real landscapes for empirical tests of the model. Results are shown to be comparable with those produced by existing software. We also present a simple variation on the standard algorithm which simulates a variable windrose (current models assume uniform wind distribution around the compass) and show that this can reproduce the main features of empirical data.