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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.

Almost 60% of cities with >300,000 inhabitants are confronted with a heightened risk of exposure to multiple natural hazards, such as earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis or volcanic eruptions, intensifying their vulnerability to fatalities and economic damages related to disasters1. Digital twins are emerging as potentially powerful tools to address the challenges of geohazard response and management2. While still in development, these data-driven information systems show promise to provide users with a comprehensive digital reflection of the Earth system’s state and its evolving nature, bounded by available observations and fundamental physical principles3. Yet, deciphering the complex, ever-evolving connections between physical assets of near-fault and on-fault observatories and their representation in digital twins remains a formidable task.

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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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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00469-y

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