Developing a generic Adaptation Modelling Framework for Destination Earth grounded in Flood Risk Management

Rapid open-source physics-based flood and impact models are critical resources for adaptation planning. Due to their complexity, these models often remain inaccessible to users who rely on them for decision-making. An advanced level of technical knowledge is required to set up and run the models. This body of work aims to develop an adaptation modelling framework that automates model pre-processing, workflows, and post-processing and allows non-technical end-users to access these modelling advances, empowering government agencies, practitioners, and researchers to evaluate meaningful “what-if” scenarios, such as specific events, future conditions, or protective measures.

Via engagement with potential and current users from municipalities, regional governments, European agencies such as EEA and EC, research institutes, and communities closely linked to the EU Mission on Climate Adaptation, the research team will build upon years of research and development on the adaptation modelling framework FloodAdapt. The project will deliver a design, user documentation and demonstrator of a flexible, modular, expandable, and transferable adaptation modelling framework that can automatically modify and execute state-of-the art and open-source flood and impact models to simulate, visualize, and assess compound flood scenarios, impacts, and risk for a wide variety of end users in different demographic and physical contexts. End users of the adaptation modelling framework will ultimately be able obtain quality flood and impact maps, equity-focused visuals, and informative metrics to support their planning needs and facilitate genuine stakeholder engagement, . The framework will also be generalized to enable other scientific disciplines to benefit from the adaptation modelling framework, extending the impact of the project.