The objective of the DestinE DTs is to provide users with high-quality weather and climate information at the global to the local scale based on high-resolution numerical models that could represent important small-scale processes of the earth systems. The traditional way of digesting data to extract information is not suitable in DestinE because of the huge amount of data produced by DTs (approximately 1 PTb per day). To facilitate users and meet their needs, the impact sector applications/models will seamlessly integrate with the DTs and provide accurate sector information at the local scale where climate change and extreme events impacts are manifesting the most. The unique design of the DestinE will help users find their data or services in DestinE according to their needs/applications.
To provide high-quality, reliable, and accurate information from DTs and impact sector applications, a well-defined and applicable quality control framework in DestinE is fundamental and critical. The objective of this technical solution is to develop a consolidated Evaluation and Quality Control (EQC) concept for DestinE together with the Copernicus EQC framework to build trust between DestinE users and DestinE DTs including impact sector applications.

CMCC role
Subcontractor

Activities
To address the requirements and fulfil the objectives of this contract, the team will:

• carry out in-depth analyses of existing and well-established QC frameworks in Copernicus and operational weather and climate services
• investigate which components of existing QC framework could be adopted for DestinE
• design the DestinE QC concept based on the unique design and large output of DestinE
• develop the roadmap of implementation of QC according to the progress of DestinE
• use representative examples to demonstrate the functionality of QC concept
• provide advices for the DestinE development
• design the quality control concept framework, between DestinE and Copernicus and other Digital Twins
  

The work in this contract will be executed by highly qualified scientists and technicians from top-level European institutions, covering all aspects of the required expertise. Utrecht University will be the primary contractor and will guarantee the overall service development, on the basis of its recognized leadership in environmental and climatic services and a strong experience in all sectors of the DE_373_UU contract, in particular its expertise on digital twins, impact sector models development, the usage of digital twins and climate simulations. This will ensure a robust management framework and an effective coordination of the service evolution.

Expected results
The key activity of this contract is to develop the end-to-end QC concept for Digital Twins and impact sector models/applications.In particular:

• Propose methods and metrics (e.g. relative error and Anomaly Correlation Coefficient) to quantify the uncertainty in climate- and weather-extreme Twins, in particular disruptive methods (e.g. machine-learning based) to overcome the challenge of computational cost for large datasets. Our team has extensive knowledge in uncertainty quantification in climate simulations and weather predictions, including machine-learning based methods.
• Propose methods and metrics to quantify uncertainty in impact sector models/applications, considering the uncertainty already existing in the backend models of the Twins (i.e., error propagation through the processing chain). Our team has deep knowledge in this matter. For example, as described in Section 4.3.2, uncertainties in urban heat islands data and health could be quantified from assumptions and scenarios incorporated into the regional climate and meteorological model parametrization as the output of Digital Twins. The experiences and knowledge of uncertainty in impact sector models (examples are given in Section 4.3.2) from our team will ensure the success of this task.
• Qualitative assessment of DestinE outputs, including characterisation of data documentation, completeness, correctness, provenance, maturity, fitness-for-purpose which is already presented in Copernicus EQC.
  Develop novel methods and metrics to provide quality information dedicated to DestinE which has a unique design compared to Copernicus and other operational weather and climate services. Our team combines experts in QC concept design, QC implementation, DestinE design, climate modeling, impact sector models development and use, which will guarantee the positive results of this task.
  

Partners
Serco Italia,Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR),CoLAB +ATLANTIC (+Atlantic)