TORONTO – It turns out that April showers may not bring May flowers, but rather April flowers may bring May showers.
Confused yet?
As you begin to battle the allergy season of runny noses, puffy eyes and general malaise, you might stop to consider how pollen not only affects you, but the role it plays on our planet, specifically when it comes to climate.
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A recent study out of the University of Michigan and Texas A&M has concluded that the same pollen responsible for so much grief this time of year might also play an important role in our atmosphere. In particular, the findings suggest that small grains of pollen might seed clouds, illustrating a link between plants and the atmosphere.
“The grains were thought to be too large to be important in the climate system, too large to form clouds or interact with the sun’s radiation,” said Allison Steiner, an associate professor of atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences at the University of Michigan.
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However, Steiner decided to probe deeper. She knew that pollen had the ability to break down into smaller grains, which is what causes allergies in humans.
The researchers decided to see if moisture — which is found throughout our atmosphere — could break down those larger pieces into smaller ones. And it did.
READ MORE: What doctors are warning parents about allergies and asthma in kids
“What we found is when pollen gets wet, it can rupture very easily in seconds or minutes and make lots of smaller particles that can act as cloud condensation nuclei, or collectors for water,” Steiner said.
Next, the researchers took pollen from oak, pecan, birch, cedar and pine trees as well as ragweed, as they are the most common source of wind-driven pollen in the United States. They soaked them in pure water for an hour.
They then used an atomizer to spray the moist pollen fragments into a cloud-making chamber at Texas A&M. The results? Three different sizes (50, 100 and 200 nanometres) of all the types began to pull in moisture and form clouds.
The researchers hope to further study the effects in the field, which may shed some light on the influence of natural aerosols in cloud formation and climate.
“It’s possible,” Steiner said, “that when trees emit pollen, that makes clouds, which in turn makes rain and that feeds back into the trees and can influence the whole growth cycle of the plant.”
The study appeared in the May 4 edition of the science journal Geophysical Research Letters.
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