Implementing digital twin technology of the earth system in Destination Earth

The Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative of the European Commission applies digital twin technology to the Earth system, enabling bespoke, high-resolution simulations of extreme weather events and climate scenarios. At its core, DestinE features Digital Twins and a Digital Twin Engine — a software framework that connects computing, Earth system models, data, and applications. DestinE’s Digital Twins combine observations, physics-based high-resolution simulations and emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods, and leverage Europe’s most powerful supercomputers, through a strategic partnership with the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU). DestinE enables tailored Earth system simulations to dynamically explore future weather and climate scenarios and to address “what-if” questions. It also establishes an operational framework for multi-decadal, multi-model climate projections, linking them to applications that transform vast climate data into actionable insights for climate sensitive sectors. By offering detailed, customized information on weather and climate extremes, DestinE enhances existing capabilities and supports both immediate and longer-term climate adaptation strategies. 3 Key points of the paper: • Defines the Destination Earth digital twin concept • Demonstrates the implementation of the world’s first two digital twin prototypes for two distinct purposes, anticipating weather-induced extremes and supporting climate change adaptation and mitigation • Discusses the challenges of the first 2 years of Earth system digital twin technology capacity building, highlighting the future potential for supporting public institutions in their effort to respond and adapt to climate change and extreme events.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of the European Meteorological Society.
Published
2025-06-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jemets.2025.100015
Citations
6
Primary Topic
Economic and Technological Systems Analysis
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
16.56

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article

Implementing digital twin technology of the earth system in Destination Earth

Nils Wedi, T. Geenen, Balthasar Reuter, Daniel Klocke et al.
6 citations
Journal of the European Meteorological Society.
Economic and Technological Systems Analysis
16.56
article

Implementing digital twin technology of the earth system in Destination Earth

Nils Wedi, T. Geenen, Balthasar Reuter, Daniel Klocke, Heikki Järvinen, Thomas N. Nipen, James Hawkes, Benoît Vannière, Nikolay Koldunov, Carlo Buontempo, Thomas Josef Jung, Katherine Grayson, Peter Dueben, Natalie Theeuwes, Paolo Davini, Ilja Maljutenko, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Daniel Thiemert, Umberto Modigliani, Ursula S. McKnight, Rune Andersen, Miguel Castrillo, Martin Suttie, N. Devaraju, Tiago Quintino, Outi Sievi-Korte, Piet Termonia, Marcus Hirtl, Barbara Früh, Jenni Kontkanen, Kristian Pagh Nielsen, Stephan Thober, Leif Denby, Björn Stevens, Vincent‐Henri Peuch, Andrew Bennett, Ioan Hadade, Estíbaliz Gascón, Irina Sandu, Florian Pappenberger, Ulf Andrae, Inger‐Lise Frogner, Henrik Nortamo, Péter Bauer, Suraj D. Polade, Joern Hoffmann, Utz‐Uwe Haus, Stéphane Vannitsem, E. S. Kuwertz, Matthew Chantry, A. P. McNally, Andreas Mueller, Christoph Wittmann, Roger Randriamampianina, Kristian Horvath, Jarmo Mäkelä, Irene Schicker, Simon Smart, Élisabeth Gérard, C. Fischer, Francisco J. Doblas‐Reyes, Jost von Hardenberg, Pierre-Antoine Bretonnière, Claudia Frauen, Ludovic Auger, Mario Acosta, René Capell, Alexander Kann, Sebastian Milinski, Matthieu Chevallier, Vasileios Baousis, Pekka Manninen, Victoria Bennett, Ricardo Correa, Xiaohua Yang, M. A. Sleigh, J. Kristiansen, Nadia Guenova-Rubio, Oliver Gorwits, Marc Pontaud
article en
6 citations

Abstract

The Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative of the European Commission applies digital twin technology to the Earth system, enabling bespoke, high-resolution simulations of extreme weather events and climate scenarios. At its core, DestinE features Digital Twins and a Digital Twin Engine — a software framework that connects computing, Earth system models, data, and applications. DestinE’s Digital Twins combine observations, physics-based high-resolution simulations and emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods, and leverage Europe’s most powerful supercomputers, through a strategic partnership with the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU). DestinE enables tailored Earth system simulations to dynamically explore future weather and climate scenarios and to address “what-if” questions. It also establishes an operational framework for multi-decadal, multi-model climate projections, linking them to applications that transform vast climate data into actionable insights for climate sensitive sectors. By offering detailed, customized information on weather and climate extremes, DestinE enhances existing capabilities and supports both immediate and longer-term climate adaptation strategies. 3 Key points of the paper: • Defines the Destination Earth digital twin concept • Demonstrates the implementation of the world’s first two digital twin prototypes for two distinct purposes, anticipating weather-induced extremes and supporting climate change adaptation and mitigation • Discusses the challenges of the first 2 years of Earth system digital twin technology capacity building, highlighting the future potential for supporting public institutions in their effort to respond and adapt to climate change and extreme events.

Journal of the European Meteorological Society.Vol. 3
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SE), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (GB), Barcelona Supercomputing Center (ES), Danish Meteorological Institute (DK), Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (IT), Météo-France (FR), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ES)
European Space Agency, European Commission
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Economic and Technological Systems Analysis
16.56
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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