Compound flood forecasting and climate adaptation Destination Earth digital twin

Coastal deltas are extremely susceptible to flooding from sea, rivers, heavy rain and even more severe combinations thereof. Many coastal deltas are densely populated, and flood risk forms a serious threat that will likely increase in the future. There are two main mechanisms to reduce the devastating impacts of these floods; (1) adaptation to the increasing climate risks and (2) improved early warning and emergency response. We will present the Destination Earth digital twin on coastal compound flood inundation forecasting and climate adaptation.

This digital replica of the delta will connect DE data to impact models and will generate user oriented actionable output. High-resolution meteorological forecasts and regular updated climate scenarios form the input for regional coastal and inland models that provide boundary conditions for local models. Local models are used for simulation of small-scale hydrological processes, high-resolution 2D compound flood inundation and impact on population and buildings.  A flexible data post-processing routine, to be co-designed with the end-users, will be implemented to translates model results into actionable context-specific information. It will, for example, produce flood inundation and risk maps as well as other user-requested indicators. For the climate adaptation component, the system will allow users to run WhatIf scenarios to explore adaptation measures. The data products will be disseminated to the users via Web-API, WEB-mapping service or through (S)FTP, depending on the users’ preferences.

We will outline and demonstrate our digital twin that serves both flood impact reduction mechanisms, i.e. climate adaptation and forecasting extremes.  We will highlight end users’ needs and requirement that are involved through co-creation/design of the service.