AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Pollen Grains Impacting the Region of Paris: Speciation, Temporal Variations and Geographical Origins
Roland Sarda-Esteve, Dominique Baisnee, JEAN-EUDES PETIT, Valerie Gros, CEA
Abstract Number: 529 Working Group: Bioaerosols
Abstract Pollen grains account for a significant fraction of bioaerosols. Mainly through the inflammation of respiratory tracts, they have a significant health impact, notably in polluted urban areas, characterized by an increase of asthma cases. The understanding of the parameters driving pollen grains concentrations becomes thus essential, especially within a changing climate and increasing urbanization. Multi-year sampling and speciation of bioaerosols have been carried out from 2015 to 2018 in Paris, France, providing unique insights in the most densely inhabited region of France. Strong inter-annual variability was observed, where Betulaceae pollen was found to be the main specie driving this year-to-year variability, especially during spring. Urticaceae was however found to dominate during summer. The investigation of meteorological parameters highlighted that, in addition temperature and precipitation variabilities, wind conditions play a central role regarding the transport of bioaerosols over the Paris region. The geographical origins of pollen grains were therefore investigated with ZeFir, a user-friendly tool for wind and trajectory analysis. Different wind patterns were observed and will be discussed. These pollen episodes are often associated with pollution events, which could increase the allergenic character of smaller particles. Finally, these results will be put in perspective thanks to unique 30-year climatology of pollen grains in Paris.