Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Negral, L.
• Aznar, F.
• Galera, M.D.
• Costa-Gómez, I.
• Moreno-Grau, S.
• Moreno, J.M.

Titel

Phenological and seismological impacts on airborne pollen types: A case study of Olea pollen in the Region of Murcia, Mediterranean Spanish climate

Ist Teil von

• The Science of the total environment, 2022-04, Vol.815, p.152686-152686, Article 152686

Ort / Verlag

Netherlands: Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• 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 Mw = 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 11th, 2011 (IVII, Mw = 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. [Display omitted] •Olea pollen concentrations were higher on days with earthquakes in Lorca.•The paucity of earthquakes impeded conclusions in other cities of the study.•The higher the earthquake intensity, the higher the pollen concentration.•Meteorology prevailed over earthquakes impacting pollen concentrations.•African dust outbreaks were associated with reductions in pollen concentrations.