Diurnal variation in airborne pollen concentration of six allergenic tree taxa and its relationship with meteorological parameters

摘要

In this study, we have evaluated 2-hourly variations of Betula, Carpinus, Populus, Fraxinus, Cupressaceae-Taxaceae and Pinus pollen concentrations in 24-h periods as well as the impact of weather variables on the diurnal patterns of the mentioned taxa. The study was conducted in Bratislava over a period of nine successive years (2002-2010). Based on the seasonally averaged diurnal patterns, the peak pollen values occurred mostly in the middle of the day between 12 a.m. and 14 p.m., while for Fraxinus, the peaks were denoted also in the afternoon or midnight for Betula and Cupressaceae-Taxaceae. Except for Pinus, the lowest pollen concentrations of all analysed taxa were recorded in the early morning hours between 02 a.m. and 06 a.m. The lowest Pinus pollen concentrations were observed at 22 p.m. We found significant positive relationships between airborne concentrations of pollen recorded at certain times of the 24-h period and air temperature, hours of sunshine and wind speed and a significant negative relationship with relative humidity.