FROM 3D GEOLOGICAL MODELING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPREHENSIVE DIGITAL TWIN OF THE PLANET

For 35 years, the authors have developed 3D modeling techniques to better define natural conditions. During a 2001 conference, they identified 4 major obstacles to the greater use of 3D geological models by a broad spectrum of users. These constraints included (1) a lack of 3D mathematical and statistical spatial tools, (2) a lack of inexpensive modeling tools that can be operated without special skills, (3) the inability of models to depict variability and scalability of natural systems, and (4) a shortage of case histories. By 2008, with the advent of cloud-computing, Web 2.0, and a better understanding of the societal needs to address ever-increasing environmental challenges, the authors believed these constraints had been largely overcome. From 2008 to 2019, the authors’ enthusiasm dampened somewhat as the continued acceleration of the computing age gave rise to not only cloud, but ambient and edge computing; artificial intelligence/machine learning; augmented and virtual reality; and the Internet of Things. The emergence of effectively billions of planetary sensors, applications, and an infinite number of networked user-connections had not effectively put a dent in the equally accelerating global implications of climate change, water scarcity, biodiversity loss, natural resource exploitation and infectious disease that had reached a point of inflicting not only environmental loss, but human and financial losses, as well. Emerging as a collective wisdom is the continuing pursuit of the authors to leverage technology with key realities of the global change and sustainability crises. Central to these efforts is an appreciation that the Earth System can only be appropriately (1) understood through an acceptance of its multiple scales of interconnectedness, (2) modeled in its vast complexity through n-dimensional space-time domains, (3) understood through a shift from interdisciplinarity to transdisciplinarity, and (4) healed through the collective reasoning and collaboration of actors in the sciences and humanities alike. These realities, coupled with the ever-advancing technological revolution, have allowed the authors to embark on the development of a comprehensive Digital Twin of the Planet that may be used to inform society in judiciously addressing the global change and sustainability crises.