To guide climate change adaptation and mitigation, reliable information on the regional and local impacts of climate change is needed. The Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative responds to this need by developing Digital Twins (DTs) of the Earth. In particular, DestinE Climate DT provides climate information at regional and local scales over multiple decades. However, the reliability of the impact assessments of Climate DT depends on the underlying km-scale climate models, which fail to represent some key components of the Earth system. We aim to enhance the DestinE infrastructure by developing a Digital Twin of the Earth system for the cryosphere, land surface and related interactions (TerraDT). TerraDT subscribes to the DestinE vision of building interoperable and interactive DTs, while pushing the resolution to km-scale, globally. TerraDT improves the descriptions of Earth system components in the DestinE climate models for land ice, sea ice, aerosols and land surface. TerraDT is based on a modular infrastructure with a coupling interface that enables adding new components or AI/ML-based emulators. TerraDT also develops impact models linked to the cryosphere and land surface to provide user-relevant information with interactive capabilities. TerraDT developments enable their full integration to the DestinE framework. Overall, TerraDT will improve the reliability and relevance of the climate projections and impact assessments of DestinE, which is critical for guiding adaptation and mitigation actions. The TerraDT consortium consists of 18 organisations with expertise in Earth system modeling, supercomputing and impact assessments. TerraDT will also engage with relevant users and stakeholders. The consortium includes the key partners from the DestinE Climate DT contract team. Thus, it is in a unique position to fully exploit the novel approach of Climate DT and further enhance its capabilities by integration of the TerraDT developments.

The main ambition of FOCCUS is to improve and advance the coastal dimension of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) by enhancing existing capability, developing innovative coastal products. Designing and demonstrating the integration of Copernicus and Member State coastal services will allow a seamless and fit-for-use monitoring and forecasting of the ocean from global to regional and coastal scales. Co-production of coastal services will reinforce the quality, efficiency and exploitation of Copernicus research and specific applications will demonstrate FOCCUS’s progress beyond the state of the art for challenges such as the protection of the coastal zone, the development of a sustainable blue economy, and the building of coastal zone resilience to climate change, anthropogenic pressures and natural hazards. At the heart of the proposed methodology is the use of new space (such as Sentinels) and in-situ coastal observations, innovations in data fusion, data processing and visualisation together with seamless numerical coastal prediction (including interfaces for downscaling from CMEMS) from the regional to the near-shore, also connecting to the estuarine scale. Novel approaches will be used to ensure CMEMS evolves at the forefront of modern research and technology, in-line with the innovation and digitalisation required for the European digital ocean and water knowledge system. FOCCUS will ensure credible pathways for effective uptake and exploitation of key outcomes and research results by the CMEMS and the wider user community, thereby fostering the acceptance and efficient application of novel information products by society. This will include demonstrations of the technical readiness of the proposed evolutions and active dialogue with European and international initiatives to ensure the global community is aware of FOCCUS, and that results contribute to wider efforts.

EDITO-Model Lab will prepare the next generation of ocean models, complementary to Copernicus Marine Service to be integrated into the EU public infrastructure of the European Digital Twin Ocean (EDITO) that will ensure access to required input and validation data (from EMODnet, EuroGOOS, ECMWF, Copernicus Services and Sentinels satellite observations) and to high-performance and distributed computing facilities (from EuroHPC for HPC and other cloud computing resources) and that will be consolidated under developments of Destination Earth (DestinE). The objective is to make ocean knowledge available to citizens, entrepreneurs, policymakers, decision-makers and scientific experts alike, thus enabling them to become partners in knowledge generation, explore desirable futures and develop ocean management scenarios (and assemble their own twins), with the overarching goal of ensuring a safe, healthy and productive ocean. As an interactive and user driven initiative, EDITO-Model Lab will deliver a Virtual Ocean Model Lab (VOML) including (1) a core model suite including global high-resolution models and coastal configurations, (2) downstream user toolkits and (3) a developer’s toolkit for a sustainable ocean. The VOML will be an interactive and co-development environment to operate models. EDITO core model suite will be based on modelling and simulation software, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and specialised tools to form a new service capacity for accessing, manipulating, analysing and understanding marine information. Intermediate and downstream stakeholders will find digital tools, data and information for ‘focus applications’ (FA) that refer to the Mission Ocean Lighthouses (MOLs) and the sustainable Blue economy, including ‘what-if scenarios’ to find solutions to natural and man-induced hazards. EDITO-Model Lab will be delivered in 36 months by a consortium of 14 authoritative partners, covering ocean knowledge, modelling and technological expertise.

A-AAgora aims to develop the implementable NbS (Nature based Solutions) through innovative governance structures and technological architecture. It targets to boost resilience to climate change and mitigating its impacts in coastal areas. It identifies synergies by promoting a deliberative process to complement other priority areas within the EC Mission - by setting a Community of Practice and developing a digital knowledge system. It develops NbS at three replicable demonstrators (Demo-PT, Demo-IE, Demo-NO), which can upscaled. The project seeks improved public engagement and enhanced decision-making processes at different political levels based on scientific knowledge and targeted social and economic awareness, using an EBM approach. It builds on the successful implementation of NbS at the Demos to which the necessary socio-technological tools will be produced as required for a realistic EBM planning cycle (up to TRL/SRL 7). The Living Lab concept will foster the exchange synergies at multiple scales between researchers and users, decision-makers and local communities, industry and SMEs. A-AAgora will demonstrate that restoration of aquatic ecosystems is possible at a large scale through reduction of pressures, EBM, and effective NbS including blue reforestation to boost coastal resilience to climate change impacts. As well, the A-AAgora will make the most of cross-Mission synergies, by targeting marine ecosystem restoration in coastal communities particularly vulnerable to the risks of sea level rise that urgently need to adapt to ensure their population and infrastructure are safe, climate-proof and weather-resilient. The design of innovative architecture, enabling interoperability with other systems and will also foster a more digital ocean.

The societal need for sustainable exploitation of aquatic resources, requires support to monitoring need to ensure sustainable fishing, increasingly resorting to aquaculture, and a tighter control on fishing activities provides an opportunity for commercial EO services in this area. Based on Copernicus and GEOSS data and resources, it is now possible to implement commercially-oriented services for 1) fishing authorities wishing to have an improved control over marine resources; 2) responsible fishing companies willing to certify their compliance to sustainability by ecolabeling fish provenance; 3) the fast growing aquaculture industry assessing their risks and potential revenues; and 4) aquaculture regulators in understanding the impact of fish farms, in order to decide based on bespoke scientific solutions. NextOcean is proposed by a consortium of companies, research institutions, a business school and a buyers group supporting the development of innovative services. It targets fishing and aquaculture by proposing EO commercial services for the public and private sectors. It builds on past activities, proposing an integrated solution. The services will address 4User Scenarios: Monitoring Fishing Activities and Impact; Mimisation of Bycatch and Ecolabeling; Monitoring Aquaculture Impacts; and New Fish Farms. The involvement of the potential clients is done progressively, with an initial group of Alpha Users already engaged, supporting co-design of solutions. The buyers group is then enlarged to a wider group of beta testers and potential clients, who will define further evolutions, and the path to integration into their decision-making processes. NextOcean will define clear KPIs and success criteria for the services, including on the integration in the value chain. Dedicated workshops and training sessions will be held with the larger community, where the services will be advertised, explained and assessed in light of the interests and knowledge of the communities