Jacqueline Le Moigne
NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Although first defined and utilized in the engineering domain since 2002, it is only around 2020 that the Digital Twin concept was considered for the Earth. It is at the time that, in parallel with other efforts in Europe, industry and academia, the Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) Intelligent Systems Technologies (IST) Group has started an Earth System Digital Twin (ESDT) initiative. Various general Digital Twin definitions have been proposed, e.g., the one given by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine (NASEM); ESTO IST has been refining this definition to apply it to the Earth Science domain and is utilizing the following definition:
An Earth System Digital Twin (ESDT) is an Information System for Understanding, Forecasting, and Conjecturing the complex interconnections among Earth systems, including anthropomorphic forcings and impacts to humanity.
This definition can also be expressed in the following way: an Earth System Digital Twin is a dynamic and interactive information system that first provides a digital replica of the past and current states of the Earth or Earth system, as accurately and timely as possible (i.e., the “What Now”); second allows for computing forecasts of future states under nominal assumptions and based on the current replica (i.e., the “What Next”); and third offers the capability to investigate many hypothetical scenarios under varying impact assumptions (i.e., the “What If”).
In this talk, the general Earth System Digital Twin concept will be detailed, as well as its benefits to Earth Science, a few use case examples, and the technology challenges associated with building ESDTs. Finally, a few ESDT prototypes developed by IST will be presented, including the Coastal Zone Digital Twin (CZDT) currently in development in collaboration with NOAA and CNES.
Speaker bio: Jacqueline Le Moigne is Manager of the Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO)’s Intelligent Systems Technology (IST) Group. ESTO’s Intelligent Systems focus on information and software systems as well as novel computer science technologies that enable future Earth Science observations and missions. Prior to managing IST, Jacqueline was the Assistant Chief for Technology in the Software Division at NASA Goddard. She was also involved with the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Space Technology Research Grants Program and with the development of NASA Space Technology Roadmaps. Before joining NASA, she was a Research Scientist with the Computer Vision Laboratory of the University of Maryland. She has also worked in the private sector. Jacqueline received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France. Her research interests include Image Registration, Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Systems, Distributed Spacecraft Missions (DSM), and Earth System Digital Twins (ESDT), as well as high-performance and onboard computing. Jacqueline has over 180 publications including more than 30 journal papers and book chapters. She authored an edited book and earned three Patents, all in the area of Image Registration. She has been an Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Program Evaluator, a member of the Advisory Panel of the NATO Committee on Science for Peace and Security, an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, and a Goddard Senior Fellow. She received a NASA Exceptional Service Medal as well as of the Goddard Information Science and Technology Award, both in 2012.