Airborne pollen and spore registrations at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, summer 1986

Abstract

Sampling of airborne pollen and spores at Ny-Alesund on Spitsbergen in the summer of 1986, by means of a Burkard pollen and spore trap, revealed only very low concentrations of air spora: a cumulative diurnal mean for the whole season of less than 200 pollen grains and just in excess of 9,000 moss and fungal spores. The most frequent pollen types recorded were those of the local taxa: Saxifraga, Salix and Oxyria digyna, whereas the share of pollen of exotic taxa, Betula, Pinus, Juniperus and Alnus, contributed only 9% of the total pollen sum. Back trajectories and pollen registrations at various aerobiological stations in Scandinavia designate central Finland as a possible source area both for the Betula and Pinus pollen. The maximum diurnal mean concentration of Cladosporium was merely 40 spores per m3 air. One may assert that the air at Ny-Alesund is almost free from allergenic pollen and spore types.