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Influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation on grass pollen counts in Europe

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Abstract

Relationships between temporal variations in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and grass pollen counts at 13 sites in Europe, ranging from Córdoba in the south-west and Turku in the north-east, were studied in order to determine spatial differences in the amount of influence exerted by the NAO on the timing and magnitude of grass pollen seasons. There were a number of significant (P < 0.05) relationships between the NAO and start dates of the grass pollen season at the 13 pollen-monitoring sites. The strongest associations were generally recorded near to the Atlantic coast. Several significant correlations also existed between winter averages of the NAO and grass pollen season severity. Traditional methods for predicting the start or magnitude of grass pollen seasons have centred on the use of local meteorological observations, but this study has shown the importance of considering large-scale patterns of climate variability like the NAO.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partly funded by the European Union’s Sixth Framework Programme through the Marie Curie Actions Transfer of Knowledge Development Scheme. European project MTKD-CT-2004-003170. Polish Ministry of Education and Science grant 128/E-366/6 PR UE/DIE265. The results presented here address one of the main scientific challenges described in COST Action ES0603 (EUPOL) (http://www.cost.esf.org/index.php?id=1080), specifically Work Package 1 (WP1) concerned with pollen production and release. The authors would like to thank Tim Sparks of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK, for his suggestions concerning some of the statistical tests presented in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit, University of Worcester, Worcester, UK

    Matt Smith & Jean Emberlin

  2. Laboratory of Aeropalynology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland

    Matt Smith & Alicja Stach

  3. Aerobiology Unit, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Auli Rantio-Lehtimäki

  4. Scottish Centre for Pollen Studies, Napier University, Edinburgh, UK

    Eric Caulton

  5. Réseau National de Surveillance Aerobiologique, Montpellier, France

    Michel Thibaudon & Charlotte Sindt

  6. HNO Klinik, Wien, Austria

    Siegfried Jäger

  7. Swiss Pollen Network, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss), Zurich, Switzerland

    Regula Gehrig

  8. Department of Plant Biology, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    Giuseppe Frenguelli

  9. Department of Plant Biology and Soil Sciences, University of Vigo, Ourense, Spain

    Victoria Jato & F. Javier Rodríguez Rajo

  10. Department of Plant Biology, University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain

    Purificación Alcázar & Carmen Galán

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  1. Matt Smith
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  2. Jean Emberlin
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Correspondence to Matt Smith.

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Smith, M., Emberlin, J., Stach, A. et al. Influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation on grass pollen counts in Europe. Aerobiologia 25, 321–332 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10453-009-9136-4

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