Long-range Transport of Ambrosia Pollen to Poland

The long-range transport of Ambrosia pollen to Poland is intermittent and mainly related to the passage of air masses over the Carpathian and Sudetes mountains. These episodes are associated with hot dry weather, a deep Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) in the source areas and winds from the south. Such episodes can transport significant amounts of Ambrosia pollen into Poland. The study investigates Ambrosia pollen episodes at eight sites in Poland during the period 7th to 10th September 2005, by examining temporal variations in Ambrosia pollen and back-trajectories. PBL depths in the likely source areas were calculated with the Eta meteorological model and evaluated against the mountain heights. Considerable amounts of Ambrosia pollen were recorded at several monitoring sites during the night or early in the morning of the investigated period. Trajectory analyses shows that the air masses arriving at the Polish sites predominantly came from the south, and were in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary the previous day indicating these countries as potential source areas. We have shown the progress of Ambrosia plumes into Poland from the south of the country, probably from Slovakia and Hungary, and demonstrated how Lagrangian back-trajectory models and meteorological models can be used to identify possible transport mechanisms of Ambrosia pollen from potential source regions.

The Occurrence of Ambrosia Pollen in Rzeszów, Kraków and Poznań, Poland: Investigation of Trends and Possible Transport of Ambrosia Pollen from Ukraine

Previous studies have shown that ragweed pollen arrives in Poland from sources in the south, in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria. It is likely that ragweed pollen also arrives from sources in the southeast (e.g. Ukraine). This hypothesis is investigated using 13-years of pollen data and back-trajectory analysis. Ambrosia pollen data were collected at three sites in Poland, Rzeszów, Kraków and Poznań. The amount of ragweed pollen recorded at Rzeszów was significantly higher than in Poznań and Kraków. This can be related to either a higher abundance of local populations of Ambrosia in south-east Poland or the nearness of Rzeszów to foreign sources of ragweed pollen. The combined results of pollen measurements and air mass trajectory calculations identified plumes of Ambrosia pollen that were recorded at Rzeszów, Kraków and Poznań on the 4th and 5th September 1999 and the 3rd September 2002. These plumes arrived at the pollen-monitoring sites from an easterly direction indicating sources of Ambrosia pollen in eastern Poland or Ukraine. This identifies Ukraine as a possible new source of ragweed pollen for Poland and therefore an important source area of Ambrosia pollen on the European Continent.