Projects


Destination Earth On-Demand Extremes Digital Twin - Phase 1

Project webpage https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/destination-earth
Title Destination Earth On-Demand Extremes Digital Twin - Phase 1
Abstract Destination Earth (DestinE) aims to develop – on a global scale - a highly accurate digital model of the Earth to monitor and predict the interaction between natural phenomena and human activities. As part of the European Commission’s Green Deal and Digital Strategy, DestinE will contribute to achieving the objectives of the twin transition, green and digital.
DestinE will allow users to access thematic information, services, models, scenarios, simulations, forecasts and visualisations. Underlying models and data will be continuously assessed to provide reliable and actionable scenario predictions.
The main components of the DestinE system are:
  • The Core Service Platform which will provide a user-friendly entry point for DestinE users. The platform will provide evidence-based decision-making tools, applications and services, based on an open, flexible, and secure cloud-based computing system.
  • The Data Lake is the consolidation of pre-existing European data holdings from Copernicus, the data holdings of the three Destination Earth implementing entities (ESA, EUMETSAT and ECMWF) and other sources, like the Internet of Things (IoT) and socio-economic data.
  • The Digital Twins – digital replicas of the highly complex Earth systems. ECMWF will, in coordination with its Member States, among which DHMZ, develop the Digital Twin Engine, the complex software and hardware environment needed for the next generation of very high-resolution prediction models.
Key words numerical weather prediction, on-demand predictions, earth system modelling, digital twin, meteorological and geophysical extremes
Responsible person and collaborators Kristian Horvath, PhD; DHMZ team coordinator – Point of Contact
Antonio Stanešić, PhD; DHMZ alternative PoC
Mario Hrastinski, mag. phys. - geophys.
Suzana Panežić, mag. phys. - geophys.
Ana Šljivić, mag. phys. - geophys.
Iris Odak Plenković, PhD
Endi Keresturi, PhD
Ines Muić, mag. phys. - geophys.
Ena Kožul, mag. phys. - geophys.
Martina Tudor, PhD
Duration 1 September 2022 – 30 April 2024 (phase 1)
Collaborating institutions Météo-France, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Danish Meteorological Institute, Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, Geosphere, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Swedish Meteorological and Meteorological Institute, Irish National Meteorological Service, Spanish State Meteorological Agency, Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Islandic Meteorological Office, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Hungarian Meteorological Service, Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre, Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service, Estonian Environment Agency, Slovenian Environment Agency, Portugese Institute for Ocean and Atmosphere, Tallin Institute of Technology, Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bulgarian National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, Finnish IT Center for Science, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, Institute Ruđer Bošković
The role of DHMZ on the project DHMZ contributes to five Work Packages (WPs), which consist of the following main activities:
  • WP2 Code adaptation to CPUs and accelerators: This work package will introduce the necessary code adaptations that will allow for running on hybrid architectures. At the end of phase I, we will deliver a code version where the main computationally intensive parts of the ACCORD forecast model configurations will run on GPUs.
  • WP3 Implementation of hyper-high resolution model: This work package aims at providing the best configuration available of the forecast and assimilation part of On-Demand Extremes Digital Twin to fulfil the main objectives of DestinE. A large part of the work involves setting up the relevant configuration parameters to meet the strict requirements of very high-resolution forecasting.
  • WP4 Post-processing framework: This work package is designed to implement methodologies to generate user-tailored short-range forecasts with special emphasis on extremes and the on-demand capability. To allow for a future on-demand capability of the DestinE process chain, automatic extreme event detection procedures will be established. Selected Use Cases for applications in Civil Protection, marine and road applications, and agriculture will demonstrate the added value and applicability for key users. DHMZ leads WP4 Task 4.4 Exploitation of PP framework for key users / applications.
  • WP5 Dataflow design and implementation: This work package organises the On-Demand Extremes Digital Twin Engine (DTE) workflow with necessary technical infrastructure including system repository and scripting, facilitating the deployment of the on-demand, event- or user- driven hyper resolution DT for decision making support to end-users.
  • WP8 Impact modelling – Renewable energy: This work package will demonstrate the value of On-Demand Extremes for detailed prediction of weather-related extremes for renewable energy. During phase 1, various nowcasting and post-processing methods specifically designed for renewables will be demonstrated and compared for specific use cases.