Long-term Monitoring of Airborne Pollen in Alaska and the Yukon: Possible Implications for Global Change

• Main Author: Anderson, J. H.
• Other Authors: ALASKA UNIV FAIRBANKS INST OF ARCTIC BIOLOGY AND MUSEUM
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Geography; Biology; Meteorology; *AIRBORNE; *ALASKA; *GLOBAL; *POLLEN; *SPORES; *YUKON TERRITORY; *MONITORING; AIR; ATMOSPHERICS; CONTROL; CYCLES; DIRECTIONAL; GREENHOUSES; PRODUCTION; SEASONS; SUNSPOTS; TEMPERATURE; VARIABLES; VARIATIONS; WEATHER; SYMPOSIA; ARCTIC REGIONS; ECOLOGY; GASES; CLIMATE; MEDICAL RESEARCH; Component Reports; *Global changes; Anchorage; Arctic; Fairbanks; Yukon; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP007324; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP007324

Airborne pollen and spores have been sampled since 1978 in Fairbanks and 1982 Anchorage and other Alaska-Yukon locations for medical and ecological purposes. Comparative analyses of pre- and post-1986 data subsets reveal that after 1986 (1) pollen is in the air earlier, (2) the multiyear average of degree-days promoting pollen onset is little changed while (3) annual variation in degree-days at onset is greater, (4) pollen and spore annual productions are considerably higher, and (5) there is more year-to-year variation in pollen production. These changes probably reflect directional changes in certain weather variables, and there is some indication that they are of global change significance, i.e., related to increasing atmospheric greenhouse gases. Correlations with pollen data suggest that weather variables of high influence are temperatures during specific periods following pollen dispersal in the preceding year and the average temperature in April of the current year. Annual variations in pollen dispersal might be roughly linked to the 1 1 year sunspot cycle through air temperature mediators. Weather in 1990, apparent pollen production cycles under endogenous control, and the impending sunspot maximum portend a very severe pollen season in 199 existing but unfunded This article is from 'Proceedings of the International Conference on the Role of the Polar Regions in Global Change Held in Fairbanks, Alaska on 11-15 June 990. Volume 2', AD-A253 028, p453-459. See also Volume 1, AD-A253 027.