New paper on source areas and long-range transport of pollen from continental land to Tenerife (Canary Islands)

In this study, airbone pollen counts series at two sites in Tenerife (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, within the marine boundary layer, and Izaña at 2367 m a.s.l.), for the 2006-2007 period were analyzed. Three different approaches to describe pollen transport were used: (1) a classification of provenances with an ANOVA test; (2) a study of special events of high pollen concentrations, taking into consideration the corresponding meteorological synoptic scenarios responsible for transport and back-trajectories; and (3) a source-receptor model applied to a selection of pollen taxa.

Results indicate several extra-regional pollen transport episodes to Tenerife. The main provenances were: (1) from the Mediterranean regions, especially from the southern Iberian Peninsula and Morocco through the trade winds in the MBL. These episodes were characterized by the presence of tree pollen; (2) transport from the Saharan sector at the MBL level, carrying principally herbaceous pollen; and (3) from the Sahel, which appears as episodes of low frequency associated to high pressure systems over north Africa and characterized by low concentrations of the transported pollen taxa.

Several of the studied taxa with an extra-regional origin are among those causing most common allergies. This research shows that sporadic events of long-range pollen transport need to be taken into consideration as being responsible for respiratory allergy episodes, as has been found also in other studies (Estrella et al., 2006; Skjøth et al., 2007; Siljamo et al., 2007, 2008).

Full reference: R. Izquierdo, J. Belmonte, A. Ávila, M. Alarcón, E. Cuevas, and S. Alonso-Pérez, Source areas and long-range transport of pollen from continental land to Tenerife (Canary Islands). International Journal of Biometeorology, 55, 67-85, 2010. doi: 10.1007/s00484-010-0309-1

Download the paper (pdf), here.