If emissions continue to rise at their current rate, allergy sufferers may need to brace themselves for a 200% rise in pollen in the US this century. This might also result in the pollen season beginning 10 to 40 days sooner.
What Exactly Is a “Pollen Season”?
The phrase “pollen season” describes when pollen generation for plants starts, peaks, and ends. The kind, species, and so, plant location, will all impact this. The best time for a plant to generate pollen count varies yearly and depends on several (environmental) conditions.
Climate variables are crucial in determining when and the amount of these allergenic grains will be produced by plants and when they will start and cease generating pollen.
Yes, allergies do worsen annually
According to research, pollen forecast seasons throughout North America have been growing in length and intensity by roughly 21% over the last two decades. Scientists anticipate that as the earth continues to warm, pollen seasons will get harsher and much more people will develop allergies to more pollen.
Why Is the Pollen count Increasing?
Three main factors suggest that North American allergen seasons could be getting worse:
1. Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Levels
Scientific studies have shown a clear relationship between pollen forecast development and carbon dioxide. Because CO2 is no longer a growth limiting factor, as atmospheric Co2 concentration rise, many plants grow larger, blossom earlier, and generate more pollen.
Even though measuring the impact of climate change on pollen count is quite difficult, studies have discovered possible connections between the two. According to Climate Central meteorologists, ragweed pollen production has increased more than twofold since 1900 due to an ongoing rise in CO2 levels. By 2060, pollen count production may have doubled once again if CO2 emissions keep rising at this rate.
2. Pollen Production Is Affected by Rising Temperatures
Pollen production cycles are greatly influenced by temperature. Researchers concluded that global warming is a major factor in the deterioration pattern of North American allergy seasons after examining pollen count data sets from a period of more than two decades from across the Northern Hemisphere. In 71% of the studied locations, the total amount of pollen produced had increased, and the average length of the pollen count season had increased by 0.9 days annually in 65% of the locations.
3. Pollinator Expansion to New Areas
According to research, warmer weather promotes the growth of pollinator plants in previously uninhabited regions. Scientists see that pollinating species have multiplied in areas where they were previously present.
How Can Better Pollen Data Aid in Improving Seasonal Allergy Management?
A variety of various allergy management strategies can be improved with the help of accurate and reliable pollen count data, allowing businesses to empower allergy patients and promote healthy behavior changes.
By including pollen data throughout their products, indoor air marketers can go beyond their conventional definitions of “air quality” and provide a more comprehensive environmental picture. Indoor air solution suppliers can enhance brand reputation and differentiate their solutions by better safeguarding allergy-suffering customers from more airborne environmental risks. Pollen data is integrated with the interior environment management platform by the market leader in indoor air, Air Things, to support its in-room sensors.
Automobile manufacturers can use pollen data to maintain healthy in-cabin air quality and possibly contribute to lifesaving measures. Individuals with and without allergies should be concerned about sneezing while driving since it leads motorists to take their eyes off the road and is thought to cause numerous tragic accidents. Automotive brands can reduce the likelihood of sneezing and other health concerns from the shifting environment over each vehicle by integrating tailored pollen information and insights into cabin air quality control systems.
Allergy therapeutics firms can use pollen count data to develop individualized forecasts for specific patients based on their unique sensitivities, providing personalized insights to improve drug administration at the appropriate time and reduce reactions.
Lifestyle and fitness apps can incorporate pollen forecasts as well as insights into their digital offerings, giving users the ability to act on real-time pollen data by their sensitivities in a manner that facilitates travel, outdoor exercise, as well as other everyday routines healthier and engages users to create new app-dependent habits.
Market analysts can use historic pollen data to compare consumer behaviors over time with regional pollen conditions, which will help them better forecast demand, manage inventory, and optimize advertising campaigns.
Researchers also use pollen forecasts & historical data forecasts. Researchers also use historical data to enable climate and health studies, investigate the effects of various environmental changes on pollen, and examine the effects of various allergens on general well-being.
More Valuable & Important Than Ever, Pollen Data
A growing number of companies, particularly pharmaceutical and allergy treatment brands, are turning to new types of pollen data as pollen seasons continue to impact more people due to climate change to meet the growing requirement for protective remedies from a population suffering from seasonal allergies.
These companies can introduce new health-focused technologies, improve current offers, and increase audience engagement by incorporating pollen count data into their digital goods and platforms. Long-term, this shift in strategy will assist these providers in maintaining their competitiveness in a market that is becoming more unpredictable, which attaches considerable importance to the ever-evolving realities of the world that they live in.