Thirteenth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

Increased temperature due to climate change can contribute to longer pollen seasons, more pollen production, and increased pollen allergenicity. Simultaneously, dry conditions [low relative humidity (RH)] of the climate coupled with increased temperature favor pollen maturation, loosening from flower anthers, and subsequent dispersals. These effects may not be immediate and can be delayed for days to weeks. These lags, which are important in determining pollen seasonality and related public health problems, are relatively under-explored and addressed in this study. The relationships between daily airborne concentrations of trees, grasses, and weed pollen and atmospheric temperature and RH from 2010 to 2019 were analyzed. Pollen loads were stratified across low to extremely high categories. Time-series analysis methods were used to see the relationships between airborne pollen loads with observed temperature and humidity patterns overtime after checking autocorrelations in datasets. The initial analyses of trends showed a significantly increased total airborne pollen loads over time. Long term data indicate significantly increased trees pollen and significantly decreased in both grass and weed pollen. The trend analysis showed that March’s temperature was significantly correlated with total pollen counts in March/April. Preliminary data analyses indicate that atmospheric temperature changed in the Greater Atlanta area could be a significant contributor for allergenic pollen season changes, which might be an important determinant of pollen allergy across long periods in this area.