Digital Twin of Earth System for Cryosphere, Land Surface and Related Interactions

To guide climate change adaptation and mitigation, reliable information on the regional and local impacts of climate change is needed. The Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative responds to this need by developing Digital Twins (DTs) of the Earth. In particular, DestinE Climate DT provides climate information at regional and local scales over multiple decades. However, the reliability of the impact assessments of Climate DT depends on the underlying km-scale climate models, which fail to represent some key components of the Earth system.

Project objectives and expected impact

The TerraDT project aims to enhance the DestinE infrastructure by developing a DT of the Earth system for the cryosphere, land surface and related interactions. TerraDT improves the descriptions of Earth system components in the DestinE climate models for land ice, sea ice, aerosols and land surface.

TerraDT is based on a modular infrastructure with a coupling interface that enables adding new components or AI/ML-based emulators. The project also develops impact models linked to the cryosphere and land surface to provide user-relevant information with interactive capabilities. TerraDT developments enable their full integration to the DestinE framework.

Overall, TerraDT will improve the reliability and relevance of the climate projections and impact assessments of DestinE, which is critical for guiding adaptation and mitigation actions.

The role of CSC in the TerraDT project

The project brings together a consortium with expertise in Earth system modelling, supercomputing and impact assessments. CSC coordinates the TerraDT project, leveraging its expertise in information technology and Earth system research, particularly in Earth system DTs and ice sheet modeling.

CSC leads the project management as well as the performance, workflow, and data management work pillar. CSC has a major contribution to deploying the new DT components into extreme-scale computing systems and enhancing the computational performance of these components. CSC will ensure the seamless integration of performance improvements and data governance into the DestinE framework.

In addition, CSC has a key role in the coupling and evaluation of a new land ice digital twin component, based on the Elmer/Ice ice sheet model. Furthermore, CSC contributes to developing an user-interface for sea ice and urban impact models and participates in user engagement activities.