Destination Earth: Earth's digital twin is born
The preparatory work has been completed and supercomputers can now create a digital twin of the Earth.
Finnish supercomputer LUMI
(Image: EU-Kommission)
The concept for a digital twin of the Earth, which was presented a good three years ago, is now being implemented. The first computer system for the Destination Earth (DestinE) project is being activated. It is developing a model of the Earth that will not only enable large-scale climate simulations, but also small-scale weather forecasts. Among other things, observational data will be continuously fed into the simulation and processed with the help of artificial intelligence.
The EU Commission expects DestinE to have created a complete digital simulation of the Earth by 2030. The simulations will be created on European high-performance computers (EuroHPC), including the LUMI supercomputer in Kajaani, Finland. This was the first to be used for the project. The EU Commission hopes that Europe will be better prepared to react to major natural disasters, assess the potential socio-economic and political impact of such events and adapt better to climate change.
Main components are ready
Destiny Earth was conceived by a group of scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The European Space Agency (ESA) and satellite operator Eumetsat are also involved in the project, the first phase of which has been running since 2022. The ECMWF has developed the main components together with over 90 institutions from all over Europe and has already produced the first simulations on km scales with both Extremes DT and Climate DT, the EU Commission announced. Now the third phase is beginning, which, like the first, is being funded by the EU with 150 million euros.
Extremes DT will be used to monitor meteorological, hydrological and air quality extremes and complement existing national and European services. The system will produce high-resolution global weather simulations four days in advance. There is also a regional component that can be activated and configured as required so that experts can track extreme events in Europe at resolutions between 500 and 750 meters. Climate DT, in turn, is designed to produce simulations up to several decades in advance.
(anw)