Real-time pollen monitoring and information in Île-de-France

Nearly 25% of the population is allergic to pollens and climate change will aggravate this phenomenon by lengthening the pollen season, moving the flora to the north, and reinforcing the allergenic nature of certain pollens. The overall health cost is now estimated, in France, at 16 billion euros.

It is now scientifically proven that air pollution (particles, ozone, in particular) is an aggravating factor for the health of people with allergies. Faced with this major public health issue, monitoring and information on pollens must be improved and move towards real-time data and ultimately spatial forecasting.

However, today, automated and real-time monitoring and information on pollen is still underdeveloped. The sensor systems, cheap enough to envision the deployment of a measurement network, are still under development or require metrological validation.
Convinced of the major challenge for health and its social cost, AIRLAB, the open innovation platform ofAirparif, already very advanced in the characterization of air quality micro-sensors, wanted to take up this subject.

AIRLAB, with the support of the Region Ile-de-France, launched an experiment in early 2022 aimed at evaluating and comparing different automated and communicating pollen counting devices with the "Hirst" reference method. On the technical side, Airparif is supported by ATMO Grand Est for the analysis of the measurements made by the "Hirst" sensor and the Fluidyn design office for the analysis of the data from the sensors evaluated.
 
Following an open international consultation, two solutions will be compared with the Hirst method.

A captor Swisens Poleno and two PS-400 Particulate Sensors were installed on March 31, 2022 on the roof terrace of the head office of Aésio Mutuelle, a member of Airparif, in Paris 8th. We warmly thank Aesio for their involvement in the project.
The data is analyzed over time throughout the pollen season, ie until the end of September.

This project was designed with the aim, in accordance with the values ​​of open innovation and independence promoted by AIRLAB, of producing knowledge in the field of metrology applied to pollens. The work of this inter-comparison will contribute scientifically to the field of allergy forecasting and enlighten the actors involved in public health policies. To this end, AIRLAB consults, in parallel with the evaluation of technical solutions, specialists in pollen monitoring, including researchers from Météo Suisse and the international inter-comparison project Auto-Pollen, theANSES and professors of medicine, RNSA, associations Fredon et Asthma & Allergies, AASQAs, etc.