ArticlePloS one2021
Atmospheric modelling of grass pollen rupturing mechanisms for thunderstorm asthma prediction.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Climate Change and Food Allergy: Adaptations and Risks at the Intersection of Environment and Health.Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety · 2026Review
- The Impact of Extreme Weather Events on Allergic Airway Disease.Current allergy and asthma reports · 2026Review
- Profound Impact of Local Climatic Conditions on IgE Sensitization Profiles: Evidence from Argentine Cities.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Hot and dry conditions elevate grass pollen and sub-pollen particle concentrations in Melbourne, Australia.Environmental science: atmospheres · 2025Article
- Under the weather: an epidemic thunderstorm asthma event in Leicester, June 2023.BMJ open respiratory research · 2025Article
- Extreme Weather Events and Asthma.Immunology and allergy clinics of North America · 2024Review
- Paediatric Emergency Asthma Presentations: Temporal Trends and Representations in Rural Australia.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- A Review of the Respiratory Health Burden Attributable to Short-Term Exposure to Pollen.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Combined Exposure to Birch Pollen and Thunderstorms Affects Respiratory Health in Stockholm, Sweden-A Time Series Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Spike in Asthma Healthcare Presentations in Eastern England during June 2021: A Retrospective Observational Study Using Syndromic Surveillance Data.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Increased duration of pollen and mold exposure are linked to climate change.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Managing Exacerbations in Thunderstorm Asthma: Current Insights.Journal of inflammation research · 2021Review
- The perfect storm: temporal analysis of air during the world's most deadly epidemic thunderstorm asthma (ETSA) event in Melbourne.Therapeutic advances in respiratory diseaseArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The world's most severe thunderstorm asthma event occurred in Melbourne, Australia on 21 November 2016, coinciding with the peak of the grass pollen season. The aetiological role of thunderstorms in these events is thought to cause pollen to rupture in high humidity conditions, releasing large numbers of sub-pollen particles (SPPs) with sizes very easily inhaled deep into the lungs. The humidity hypothesis was implemented into a three-dimensional atmospheric model and driven by inputs from three meteorological models. However, the mechanism could not explain how the Melbourne event occurred as relative humidity was very low throughout the atmosphere, and most available grass pollen remained within 40 m of the surface. Our tests showed humidity induced rupturing occurred frequently at other times and would likely lead to recurrent false alarms if used in a predictive capacity. We used the model to investigate a range of other possible pollen rupturing mechanisms which could have produced high concentrations of SPPs in the atmosphere during the storm. The mechanisms studied involve mechanical friction from wind gusts, electrical build up and discharge incurred during conditions of low relative humidity, and lightning strikes. Our results suggest that these mechanisms likely operated in tandem with one another, but the lightning method was the only mechanism to generate a pattern in SPPs following the path of the storm. If humidity induced rupturing cannot explain the 2016 Melbourne event, then new targeted laboratory studies of alternative pollen rupture mechanisms would be of considerable value to help constrain the parameterisation of the pollen rupturing process.
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