Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain.
Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Technical University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Apr 1;815:152686. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152686. Epub 2021 Dec 29.
The rationale of this paper was to investigate whether earthquakes impact airborne pollen concentrations, considering some meteorological parameters. Atmospheric pollen concentrations in the Region of Murcia Aerobiological Network (Spain) were studied in relation to the occurrence of earthquakes of moment magnitude (up to M = 5.1) and intensity (intensity up to grade VII on the European Macroseismic Scale). In this study, a decade (2010-2019) was considered across the cities of the network. Earthquakes were detected in 12 out of 1535 days in the Olea Main Pollen Season in Cartagena, 49 out of 1481 days in the Olea Main Pollen Season in Lorca, and 39 out of 1441 days in the Olea Main Pollen Season in Murcia. The Olea pollen grains in this network were attributed to the species Olea europaea, i.e., the olive tree, a taxon that appears widely in the Mediterranean basin, in both cultivated and wild subspecies. Differences between the Olea concentration on days with and without earthquakes were only found in Lorca (Kruskal-Wallis: p-value = 0.026). The low frequency and intensity of the earthquakes explained these results. The most catastrophic earthquake felt in Lorca on May 11, 2011 (IVII, M = 5.1, 9 casualties) did not result in clear variations in pollen concentrations, while meteorology (e.g., African Dust Outbreak) might have conditioned these pollen concentrations. The research should be broadened to other active seismological areas to reinforce the hypothesis of seismological impact on airborne pollen concentrations.
本文的基本原理是研究地震是否会影响空气中花粉的浓度，同时考虑一些气象参数。本研究在西班牙穆尔西亚大气生物网络（Region of Murcia Aerobiological Network）的范围内，研究了大气花粉浓度与地震（矩震级达 M=5.1 及震级达欧洲宏观震级表 VII 级）发生的关系。在这项研究中，跨越了网络城市的十年（2010-2019 年）进行了考虑。在卡塔赫纳的橄榄主花粉季节中，在 1535 天中有 12 天检测到地震，在洛卡的橄榄主花粉季节中，在 1481 天中有 49 天检测到地震，在穆尔西亚的橄榄主花粉季节中，在 1441 天中有 39 天检测到地震。该网络中的橄榄花粉粒归因于 Olea europaea 种，即橄榄树，这个分类广泛存在于地中海盆地，包括栽培和野生亚种。只有在洛卡（Kruskal-Wallis：p 值=0.026）中发现了有地震和无地震日之间的 Olea 浓度存在差异。地震的低频率和强度解释了这些结果。2011 年 5 月 11 日洛卡发生的最具灾难性的地震（IVII，M=5.1，9 人死亡）并未导致花粉浓度明显变化，而气象条件（例如非洲尘暴）可能影响了这些花粉浓度。应该将研究扩展到其他活跃的地震区域，以加强地震对空气中花粉浓度的影响假设。
