New Digital Twin for Destination Earth: TerraDT – Digital Twin of Earth System for Cryosphere, Land Surface, and Related Interactions

Reliable, high-resolution information on regional and local climate impacts is crucial for effective climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. The European Commission Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative aims to address this need by creating advanced Digital Twins (DTs) of the Earth, including the Climate Adaptation Digital Twin (Climate DT), which provides km-scale climate information over multiple decades. However, the ability of the Climate DT to support actionable impact assessments is limited by its incomplete representation of critical Earth system components.

To overcome these limitations, we present TerraDT, a Horizon Europe-funded research project focused on developing a state-of-the-art Digital Twin of the Earth system with a specific emphasis on the cryosphere, land surface, and their interactions. TerraDT aligns with the DestinE vision of creating interoperable and interactive DTs and advances Earth system modeling by enhancing the representation of land ice, sea ice, aerosols, and land surface processes at global km-scale resolution.

TerraDT features a modular and scalable infrastructure with a generic coupling interface that supports the integration of novel components, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-based emulators. This framework enables more accurate climate projections and impact assessments, while user-oriented models provide actionable insights into cryosphere and land-surface-related challenges. The project pursues three primary objectives:

• Develop TerraDT to improve climate projections and impact assessments for enhanced decision-making. 
• Enhance the DestinE infrastructure by creating a modular, scalable, and interoperable TerraDT platform with advanced software, high-performance computing, and data handling capabilities. 
• Foster user uptake by engaging the scientific community and stakeholders in public and private sectors, ensuring a user-centric approach to development and deployment. 

TerraDT is designed for full integration into the DestinE framework, ensuring compatibility and enhancing the overall ecosystem’s capability to guide climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.

By delivering improved accuracy in modeling the cryosphere and land-surface interactions, TerraDT positions itself as a transformative enhancement to DestinE. Its innovative infrastructure, combined with its focus on modularity and user engagement, ensures TerraDT provides robust, actionable climate projections to policymakers and stakeholders worldwide, fostering a more resilient and sustainable future.