Lessons learned from the pilot phase of the Digital Twin Component for Glaciers project (DTC Glaciers)

Mountain glaciers are critical elements of the Earth’s hydrological and climate systems. The rapid changes in glaciers due to climate change hinder our ability to monitor and address associated risks effectively. To address these challenges, we present the Digital Twin Component for Glaciers (DTC Glaciers), part of ESA’s Digital Twin Earth (DTE) programme. In this presentation, we will demonstrate the early prototype of the DTC Glaciers system, developed through close co-design with our stakeholders in the hydropower and water sectors. The demonstration will highlight current capabilities, including regional glacier mass-balance assessment, runoff estimation, and user-informed scenarios. We will also share key lessons learned from Phase 1, focussing on data assimilation of heterogeneous datasets, the practicalities of building adaptive architectures, and the challenges of meeting diverse user needs within a unified framework. Despite these challenges, DTC Glaciers offers a well defined test case to assess the transformative potential of digital twins in climate risk assessments.