Aeroallergens affect over 80 million Europeans, reducing their quality of life and costing over €50 billion/year. Bioaerosols, such as pollen, fungal spores, etc, released into the air by plants, fungi, and other biota, are impacted by climate change and affect it through interactions with clouds and precipitation. Aerobiological information is also vital for agriculture and forestry, where timely data about plant development, abundance of pathogens and invasive species, are necessary for precision-agriculture and knowledge-based technologies. The demand for timely, free, and objective information on abundance of these particles in the air is currently not met.
Automatic, real-time bioaerosol monitors have emerged recently, largely by efforts of SYLVA partners. They benefit from precision sampling technology, high-end imaging, laser and holographic techniques, and rely on machine learning for information processing. A specific challenge is particle type recognition. Particle classifiers need to have extremely high selectivity to correctly single out a few relevant particles out of tens of thousands of other aerosols routinely present in the air.
The goal of SYLVA is:
To achieve a radical improvement and fill gaps in temporal resolution, timeliness, coverage, and availability of information about aeroallergens and other bioaerosols. SYLVA technological innovations are accompanied with new infrastructure, distribution and exploitation pathways, and links with stakeholders to ensure technology uptake and sustainability beyond the lifetime of the project.
SYLVA is radically advancing real-time bioaerosol monitoring technologies for in situ (target TRL8), atmospheric profile (tTRL7), and 3rd generation eDNA sequencing measurements (tTRL7). All instruments are being tested and validated for operational monitoring across Europe, including extreme conditions in the Arctic, southern Europe, and at high altitudes. Machine learning based bioaerosol identification algorithms are being extended to include more pollen species, fungal spores, as well as some bacteria.
SYLVA combines:
(i) cutting-edge technologies, (ii) big-data and machine learning techniques supported by (iii) innovative ICT infrastructure and (iv) data collection and Demonstration Pilot campaigns to construct and evaluate a versatile prototype of a Europe-wide bioaerosol monitoring system that provides (v) game-changing information to end-users (attached Figure 1).
Technological innovations are shown through Pilot Demonstrations in three European regions (attached Figure 2).
SYLVA developments, technological advancements, and interaction with stakeholders during the project resulted in an update of the system concept towards an integrated system with significant interplay of its parts (attached Figure 3). Open science is an integral aspect of SYLVA. The consortium recognizes that working together to produce open data, publications, algorithms, and tools is of benefit to all relevant actors.
