Evaluating real-time air-quality data as earthquake indicator

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• 作者：Shih-Chieh Hsu ; Yi-Tang Huang ; Jr-Chung Huang ; Jien-Yi Tu ; Guenter Engling ; Chuan-Yao Lin ; Fei-Jan Lin ; Chao-Hao Huang
• 关键词：The 921 Chi-Chi earthquake ; Earthquake forecasting ; Air-quality monitoring network ; SO₂
• 刊名：Science of the Total Environment
• 出版年：2010
• 出版时间：1 May 2010
• 年：2010
• 卷：408
• 期：11
• 页码：2299-2304
• 全文大小：2183 K

文摘

A catastrophic earthquake, namely the 921-earthquake, occurred with a magnitude of M_L = 7.3 in Taiwan on September 21, 1999, causing severe disaster. The evaluation of real-time air-quality data, obtained by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), revealed a staggering increase in ambient SO₂ concentrations by more than one order of magnitude across the island several hours prior to the earthquake, particularly at background stations. The abrupt increase in SO₂ concentrations likely resulted from seismic-triggered degassing instead of air pollution. An additional case of a large earthquake (M_L = 6.8), occurring on March 31, 2002, was examined to confirm our observations of significantly enhanced SO₂ concentrations in ambient air prior to large earthquakes. The coincidence between large earthquakes and increases in trace gases during the pre-quake period (several hours) indicates the potential of employing air-quality monitoring data to forecast catastrophic earthquakes.