The rise in sea temperatures is becoming a regular news feature, and policymakers across the globe find themselves in need to confront new climate challenges. Technological advancements can lend a hand thanks to the enhanced forecasting capabilities they provide. The European Digital Twin Ocean (EU DTO) represents a significant advancement in Ocean monitoring and prediction, building upon the strong foundation laid by Copernicus Marine and EMODnet. With an enhanced digital and cloud processing framework, the EU DTO is designed to provide more robust and efficient tools for understanding and managing Ocean environments. Alongside initiatives like DestinE for Climate and Extreme Events, the EU DTO is shaping the future of Earth Observation.
Launched by the European Commission at the One Ocean Summit in February 2022, the EU DTO is now at a pre-operational stage, with its first demo presented at the Digital Ocean Forum (DOF) 2024 last June. It will provide policymakers, the scientific community and citizens with an open science-based platform to address the challenges that the Ocean and coastal environments are facing with greater foresight. The EU DTO is being developed within the framework of the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and aligns with the major European and International climate initiatives such as the European Green Deal and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
The five core pillars of the EU DTO, a multi-purpose digital replica of the Ocean
The development of the core EU DTO is currently underway through two sister projects: EDITO-Infra and EDITO-ModelLab. Together with the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Mercator Ocean international (MOi) is leading EDITO-Infra to develop the public backbone infrastructure of the European Digital Twin Ocean, while MOi coordinates the 13-partner consortium developing EDITO-ModelLab.
Through an open digital representation of the Ocean, the EU DTO aims to revolutionise the way society leverages marine data for the benefit of the environment and future generations. Its development revolves around five core pillars:
- SOCIETY’S EXPECTATIONS – with co-creation at its core, the development of the EU DTO benefits from the contributions of stakeholders and end users, to ensure that the tool will meet the needs of society.
- CUTTING-EDGE OCEAN INFORMATION AT YOUR FINGERTIPS – The EU DTO provides access to a data lake integrating catalogues from the two main European marine data assets: the Copernicus Marine Service and the European Marine Data and Observation Network (EMODnet). The Copernicus Marine Service is one of the six services of Copernicus, the Earth Observation component of the EU Space Programme and integrates satellite observations, in situ measurements and advanced numerical models related to the marine environment. EMODnet is the most comprehensive in situ marine data service of the European Commission.
- TOWARDS NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES – the development of the EU DTO can rely on cutting-edge technologies such as numerical modelling, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and supercomputing resources to deliver new high-quality products and services.
- SUPPORT DECISION-MAKING – the EU DTO will represent a crucial tool in the hands of policymakers to implement European and international initiatives such as the European Green Deal and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, but also act at the regional and local level when coastal communities are threatened, through the simulation of what-if scenarios.
- UNIQUE NETWORK OF EXPERTISE – the consortium behind the development of the EU DTO boasts multi-level, cross-cutting expertise, ranging from climatology and operational oceanography to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing.
What functionalities does the EU DTO offer?
The offer of the EU DTO can be best summarised with three keywords: exploration, creation and contribution.
Exploration – the basic service of the EU DTO will allow users to navigate through the time and space axes and explore vast amounts of data on physics, biology, chemistry, sea ice, ecology and biodiversity, from the surface to the seabed.
Creation – by leveraging the data of the EU DTO, users can also create their own prediction scenarios on a variety of dynamics and phenomena. This can ultimately support policy-makers in taking informed decision, like for instance the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) or the devise of effective marine pollution strategies. This feature is currently only available to beta testers.
Contribution – Possibility to be part of the co-creation and evolution and contribute by bringing in and integrating your own data, tools and services on the platform. This service is now open to Beta Testers from Phase1 only.
A digital twin of the Ocean for effective and informed decision-making
The pre-operational platform of the EU DTO was presented at the Digital Ocean Forum 2024 (DOF) last June. The forum was the perfect occasion for the experts involved in its development to present the ways users can harness the potential of the EU DTO for multiple applications already at the current stage, for instance to combat marine plastic pollution or to support nature-based solutions against coastal hazards.
Through the EU DTO’s datasets, users such as public authorities can monitor/quantify how much plastic enters the Ocean through coasts and rivers, while numerical models can forecast their trajectories based on Ocean currents and winds. Beside observing what already happened in the real world, the EU DTO can also be used to run “what if” scenarios and take appropriate actions before adverse events occur.
This is also the case for nature-based solutions for hazards affecting coastal areas. So far, coastal communities have been responding to floods by raising artificial barriers (such as sea walls) to protect coasts. By combining coastal models with real life observations, the EU DTO can explore the best ways and identify the right locations to use coastal vegetation (for instance seagrass meadows) to address possible threats to the coasts.
Today, the platform represents a single-entry point for marine observation datasets advanced models and AI-driven tools. The catalogue currently includes data from the Copernicus Marine Service and EMODnet for access and visualisation, but it is regularly updated with new data.
Looking ahead: the 3-phased roadmap of the EU DTO
The Beta Testing Roadmap for the European Digital Twin Ocean (EU DTO) unfolds in three distinct phases.
Phase #1, initiated in September 2023, involved a selected group of beta testers from the EDITO ecosystem. In Phase #2, starting on 25 May 2024, the beta testing expanded to over 70 projects invited to the Scientific & Technical Workshop at the DOF 2024 that took place in Brussels on 12 June 2024. Finally, Phase #3 will kick off in the last quarter of 2024, broadening access to wider communities. Soon, registration will open for early users to test the platform, integrate digital twin applications, and utilize the data lake and resources for research, innovation, policy, and ocean literacy.
The EU Mission Restore our Ocean
The EU DTO was launched by the European Commission at the One Ocean Summit in February 2022. The initiative is one of the main elements of the Digital Ocean Knowledge System under the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters, which aims to protect and restore marine ecosystems, implement a sustainable Blue economy and eliminate pollution by 2030, in alignment with the major European and international green priorities.