Chapter 12
Spatio-Temporal Monitoring
and Modelling of Birch Pollen in Belgium
Andy Delcloo, Willem W. Verstraeten, Sebastien Dujardin,
Nicolas Bruffaerts, Marijke Hendrickx, Rafiq Hamdi and Mikhail Sofiev
Abstract Air quality is primordially affected by anthropogenic emissions and has
a tremendous impact on human health with more than 6 million premature deaths
worldwide in 2015 (Landrigan et al. in The Lancet Commission on pollution and
health, 2017) [3]. Biogenic emissions of aerosols such as pollen also impact the
human wellbeing. The industrialized world suffers from a global increase in the
burden of allergic respiratory diseases. Air pollution can influence both allergens
and allergic subjects by increasing the immune reaction, and/or by an intensified
biogenic emissions. In Europe, a quarter of the population suffers from pollinosis,
whereas in some countries the prevalence is over 40%. To date, pollen of various trees
and grasses in Belgium are monitored by the Belgian Scientific Institute for Public
Health (Sciensano) at five stations on a daily basis. This sparse sampling cannot cover
the spatial representativeness of the airborne pollen. Chemistry Transport Models
(CTM’s) are therefore an interesting tool to both quantify and forecast its spatial
and temporal distribution. Here we show the results of the spatio-temporal modelled
birch pollen over Belgium using the CTM SILAM. This model is driven by 2008
ECMWF meteorological data and a MACC-III birch tree fraction map showing the
spatial distribution of potential pollen sources. Pollen modelling is based on the
temperature degree days approach.
A. Delcloo (B) · W. W. Verstraeten · R. Hamdi
Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
e-mail: Andy.Delcloo@meteo.be
A. Delcloo · R. Hamdi
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
S. Dujardin
Department of Geography, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
N. Bruffaerts · M. Hendrickx
Mycology and Aerobiology Unit, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium
M. Sofiev
Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Helsinki, Finland
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
C. Mensink et al. (eds.), Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXVI,
Springer Proceedings in Complexity,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22055-6_12
71
Spatio-Temporal Monitoring
and Modelling of Birch Pollen in Belgium
Andy Delcloo, Willem W. Verstraeten, Sebastien Dujardin,
Nicolas Bruffaerts, Marijke Hendrickx, Rafiq Hamdi and Mikhail Sofiev
Abstract Air quality is primordially affected by anthropogenic emissions and has
a tremendous impact on human health with more than 6 million premature deaths
worldwide in 2015 (Landrigan et al. in The Lancet Commission on pollution and
health, 2017) [3]. Biogenic emissions of aerosols such as pollen also impact the
human wellbeing. The industrialized world suffers from a global increase in the
burden of allergic respiratory diseases. Air pollution can influence both allergens
and allergic subjects by increasing the immune reaction, and/or by an intensified
biogenic emissions. In Europe, a quarter of the population suffers from pollinosis,
whereas in some countries the prevalence is over 40%. To date, pollen of various trees
and grasses in Belgium are monitored by the Belgian Scientific Institute for Public
Health (Sciensano) at five stations on a daily basis. This sparse sampling cannot cover
the spatial representativeness of the airborne pollen. Chemistry Transport Models
(CTM’s) are therefore an interesting tool to both quantify and forecast its spatial
and temporal distribution. Here we show the results of the spatio-temporal modelled
birch pollen over Belgium using the CTM SILAM. This model is driven by 2008
ECMWF meteorological data and a MACC-III birch tree fraction map showing the
spatial distribution of potential pollen sources. Pollen modelling is based on the
temperature degree days approach.
A. Delcloo (B) · W. W. Verstraeten · R. Hamdi
Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
e-mail: Andy.Delcloo@meteo.be
A. Delcloo · R. Hamdi
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
S. Dujardin
Department of Geography, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
N. Bruffaerts · M. Hendrickx
Mycology and Aerobiology Unit, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium
M. Sofiev
Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Helsinki, Finland
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
C. Mensink et al. (eds.), Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXVI,
Springer Proceedings in Complexity,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22055-6_12
71