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Harnessing the potential of digital twins in seismology

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 4, pages 510–512 (2023)Cite this article

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Digital twins — virtual replicas of natural systems — are emerging as promising tools for assessing seismic hazard and for aiding disaster decision-making and earthquake rapid response. However, to truly harness their potential, the challenges of exascale computing must be tackled to create systems that are capable of adapting to ever-evolving earthquake dynamics.

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Fig. 1: Digital Twin Components in seismology.

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Acknowledgements

This contribution was supported by the EU project “A Digital Twin for Geophysical Extremes” (DT-GEO) (No: 101058129) and the European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant “Fault Activation and Earthquake Rupture” (FEAR) (No 856559). The authors gratefully acknowledge John Clinton for comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Seismology and Geodynamics, Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Luca Dal Zilio & Domenico Giardini

  2. CSIC-GEO3BCN Geosciences Barcelona (Spanish National Research Council), Barcelona, Spain

    Ramon Carbonell

  3. Swiss Seismological Service, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Stefan Wiemer

Authors
  1. Luca Dal Zilio
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  2. Domenico Giardini
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  3. Ramon Carbonell
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  4. Stefan Wiemer
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Contributions

L.D.Z. and D.G. conceived the Comment and wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed substantially to discussion of the content, reviewed and edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Luca Dal Zilio.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Related links

A Digital Twin for Geophysical Extremes (DT-GEO): https://dtgeo.eu

Destination Earth (DestinE) initiative of the European Commission: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/destination-earth-destine

EU project “Fault Activation and Earthquake Rupture” (FEAR): http://fear-earthquake-research.org

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Dal Zilio, L., Giardini, D., Carbonell, R. et al. Harnessing the potential of digital twins in seismology. Nat Rev Earth Environ 4, 510–512 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00469-y

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