DestinE Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin

The Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin (Climate DT) is part of the European Commission’s Destination Earth (DestinE) program aiming to develop Digital Twins of Earth to support decision making. Climate DT is one of the first DTs developed within DestinE. 

Climate DT entails designing and implementing a pre-exascale climate information system that can be used to assess impacts of climate change and different adaptation strategies at local and regional levels over multiple decades. The system exploits two world-leading EuroHPC systems: LUMI in Kajaani, Finland, and MareNostrum 5 in Barcelona, Spain.

Climate DT after Phase 1

The development of the Climate DT started in September 2022. During Phase 1, the first prototype of the new pre-exascale climate information system was developed. This system harnesses three 5 km scale Earth-system models (ESMs). In Phase 1, the project defined and developed the concept of a generic state vector (GSV), which is evolved by the ESMs and streamed to applications from important climate adaptation impact sectors. This has created a basis for an information system that enables:

• provision of climate information at an unprecedented scale (multi-decadal simulations on 5km global meshes)
• scaling the system across a number of applications that have access to all the data they need
• user-centric approach with new ways of co-design and opportunities for enhancing interactivity. 

Further evolution of the Climate DT system

In Phase 2 (May 2024-April 2026), the focus is on releasing an operational version of the Climate DT system to provide high-quality climate and impact-sector information regularly as well as developing interactivity elements. The simulations will provide data covering both past (1990-2020) and future periods (2020-2050) with a 5 km global grid.

In addition to the operational framework, Phase 2 includes continuous functional and technical development of the Climate DT system. Also, monitoring, evaluation and uncertainty quantification capabilities will be further evolved. As part of the continuous development of the Climate DT system, capabilities for special simulations will be developed, including story-line simulations for future periods of extremes as well as what-if scenario simulations enabling a new level of interactivity. A front-end user interface will be developed for making key elements of scientific monitoring and evaluation and current status of Climate DT runs accessible to external users.

The role of CSC in the Climate DT project

CSC coordinates the Climate DT project and leads the work on the development of the digital infrastructure of the Climate DT. CSC also has a key role in deploying elements of the Climate DT on LUMI supercomputer. In Phase 2, CSC leads the activities for deployment and maintenance of software and service components required to run and further develop the operational-level simulation. Also, CSC leads the operation cycle management, scientific and technical support activities for external users as well as the activities towards AI-based interface development and enhancing data streams. Additionally, CSC is co-leading activities on data governance, performance optimisation of the climate models, and stakeholder engagement.

More information about the funding

Destination Earth is a European Union funded initiative and is implemented by ECMWF, ESA, and EUMETSAT.