Earthquake Electromagnetic Precursor Anomalies Detected by a New Ground-based Observation Network

It is a debated topic if there are any observable precursor anomalies prior to the earthquake(EQ hereafter)and if the stronger EQ can be successfully predicted.During last few decades quite a lot of observable electromagnetic(EM)precursors were published by using techniques equipped in either satellites or on ground-based stations.But there are only a few cases that the shortterm precursor anomalies of EM field before earthquakes were observed by using alternate EM fields on ground.This paper will present a new EM observation network built in recent years and show a new finding of EM field with the variation of a one-year cycle observed using the network.As an example,the short-term precursor anomalies of apparent resistivity before the Yangbi EQ(Ms 5.1)occurred on March 27,2017 in Yunnan Province will be studied.The observed anomalous phenomena indicate that the anomaly before the EQ can be captured only if reasonable effective methods including sophisticated analytical techniques are used,and it is believed that continuously observed data on the fixed observation network for a long time is an effective means for studying anomalies that appeared before earthquakes.This network can also play an important role in studying the EM environment from space.

Identifying the occurrence time of an impending mainshock:a very recent case

The procedure by means of which the occurrence time of an impending mainshock can be identified by analyzing in natural time the seismicity in the candidate area subsequent to the recording of a precursory seismic electric signals（SES） activity is reviewed. Here, we report the application of this procedure to an MW5.4 mainshock that occurred in Greece on 17 November 2014. This mainshock（which is pretty rare since it is the strongest in that area for more than half a century） was preceded by an SES activity recorded on 27 July 2014, and the results of the natural time analysis reveal that the system approached the critical point（mainshock occurrence） early in the morning on 15 November 2014.

Simulation and Visualisation of Functional Landscapes:Effects of the Water Resource Competition Between Plants

Vegetation ecosystem simulation and visualisation are challenging topics involving multidisciplinary aspects. In this paper, we present a new generic frame for the simulation of natural phenomena through manageable and interacting models. It focuses on the functional growth of large vegetal ecosystems, showing coherence for scales ranging from the individual plant to communities and with a particular attention to the effects of water resource competition between plants. The proposed approach is based on a model of plant growth in interaction with the environmental conditions. These are deduced from the climatic data （light, temperature, rainfall） and a model of soil hydrological budget. A set of layers is used to store the water resources and to build the interfaces between the environmental data and landscape components： temperature, rain, light, altitude, lakes, plant positions, biomass, cycles, etc. At the plant level, the simulation is performed for each individual by a structural-functional growth model, interacting with the plant＇s environment. Temperature is spatialised, changing according to altitude, and thus locally controls plant growth speed. The competition for water is based on a soil hydrological model taking into account rainfalls, water runoff, absorption, diffusion, percolation in soil. So far, the incoming light radiation is not studied in detail and is supposed constant. However, competition for light between plants is directly taken into account in the plant growth model. In our implementation, we propose a simple architecture for such a simulator and a simulation scheme to synchronise the water resource updating （on a temporal basis） and the plant growth cycles （determined by the sum of daily temperatures）. The visualisation techniques are based on sets of layers, allowing both morphological and functional landscape views and providing interesting tools for ecosystem management. The implementation of the proposed frame leads to encouraging results that are presented and illustrate simple academic cases.

Visual Simulation of Multiple Unmixable Fluids

We present a novel grid-based method for simulating multiple unmixable fluids moving and interacting. Unlike previous methods that can only represent the interface between two fluids （usually between liquid and gas）, this method can handle an arbitrary number of fluids through multiple independent level sets coupled with a constrain condition. To capture the fluid surface more accurately, we extend the particle level set method to a multi-fluid version. It shares the advantages of the particle level set method, and has the ability to track the interfaces of multiple fluids. To handle the dynamic behavior of different fluids existing together, we use a multiphase fluid formulation based on a smooth weight function.