Bioaerosol field measurements: Challenges and perspectives in outdoor studies

Abstract

Outdoor field measurements of bioaerosols are performed within a wide range of basic and applied scientific disciplines, each with its own goals, assumptions, and terminology. This article contains brief reviews of outdoor field bioaerosol research from these diverse interests, with emphasis on perspectives from the atmospheric sciences. The focus is on a high-level discussion of pressing scientific questions, grand challenges, and needs for cross-disciplinary collaboration. The research topics, in which bioaerosol field measurement is important, include (i) atmospheric physics, clouds, climate, and hydrological cycle; (ii) atmospheric chemistry; (iii) airborne allergen-containing particles; (iv) airborne human pathogens and national security; (v) airborne livestock and crop pathogens; and (vi) biogeography and biodiversity. We concisely review bioaerosol impacts and discuss properties that distinguish bioaerosols from abiological aerosols. We give extra focus to regions of specific interest, i.e., forests, polar regions, marine and coastal environments, deserts, urban and rural areas, and summarize key considerations related to bioaerosol measurements, such as of fluxes, of long-range transport, and of sampling from both stationary and vessel-driven platforms. Keeping in mind a series of key scientific questions posed within the diverse communities, we suggest that pressing scientific questions include the following: (i) emission sources and flux estimates; (ii) spatial distribution; (iii) changes in distribution; (iv) atmospheric aging; (v) metabolic activity; (vi) urbanization of allergies; (vii) transport of human pathogens; and (viii) climate-relevant properties.

EDITOR:

• Tiina Reponen

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge organizers of this special issue “Bioaerosol Research: Methods, Challenges, and Perspectives,” including Shanna Ratnesar-Shumate and Alex Huffman, as well as the AAAR Bioaerosol Working Group and the Bioaerosol Standardization Workshop at the International Aerosol Conference in St Louis, Missouri in September 2018.

Additional information

Funding

TST is grateful for the support by The Danish National Research Foundation (Grant agreement no.: DNRF106, to the Stellar Astrophysics Center, Aarhus University), by the AUFF Nova program (AUFF-E-2015-FLS-9-10), and by the Villum Fonden (research grant 23175). BS recognizes support from The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (project no. III 44006). CP acknowledges support by the Max Planck Society (MPG). MY is supported by the NSFC Distinguished Young Scholars Fund (21725701). JAH acknowledges support by University of Denver College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. Open access article processing charges were paid by the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL).