Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace

The SiCyMBSIA (Silicon Cycle in the Mediterranean and Black Seas: An isotopic approach) project will be carried out by Dr. Diksha Sharma, an experienced researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France under the supervision of Prof. Damien Cardinal. This project aims to unravel the intricate biogeochemical silicon (Si) cycling in the Mediterranean Sea (MS) and the Black Sea (BS). These two distinct marine environments offer unique opportunities for scientific exploration. The MS, with its unique oceanic characteristics, diverse ecosystems, and trophic regimes, provides an excellent opportunity for climate change research. Diatoms, an important phytoplankton group, play a crucial role in primary production and carbon export in this region. However, our understanding of their Si sources and limitations remains incomplete. By employing stable silicon isotopes (δ30Si) to analyze dissolved silicic acid and biogenic silica in the deep biogenic silica maxima and deep chlorophyll-a maxima layers, this project will quantify the role of diatoms and Si as nutrients and investigate processes governing dissolved silicic acid concentrations and biogenic silica dissolution in the intermediate and deeper layers of the MS. Along with this, understanding the seasonal pattern of exported biogenic silica from sediment traps will also be a novel aspect of this project. In contrast, the BS, characterized by its anoxic conditions and complex stratification, presents a unique challenge. This project will delve into the Si uptake by diatoms, sub-surface remineralization, and biogenic silica release through δ30Si analyses, shedding light on nutrient-driven diatom growth and biogenic silica production through hypoxic, anoxic, and H2S rich deep environments of the BS. Ultimately, this project promises to make a significant contribution to the international GEOTRACES programme and enhance our comprehension of Si cycling in these critical marine ecosystems.

ENVRI-Hub NEXT develops and implements the open access hub to the data and services provision framework of the Cluster of Environmental Research Infrastructures (ENVRI) and connects the environmental research community to the European Open Science Cloud. The overarching goal of ENVRI-Hub NEXT is to consolidate and advance the robust conceptual and technical structure established by the ENVRI-Hub to empower the ENVRI Science Cluster to provide interdisciplinary data-driven services. These services will support climate change research, including the development of mitigation and adaptation measures and strategies, and the assessment of the climate change risks. Through this platform, ENVRI-Hub NEXT will facilitate the integration of the environmental sciences community into EOSC, guided by the concept of Essential Climate Variables. In direct answer to the Call Topic, ENVRI-Hub NEXT expands the frontiers of multidisciplinary environmental sciences by fostering operational synergies between ENVRI RIs and developing and utilising complementarities in their data and services provision. The joint forces of ENVRI and e-infrastructures allow for the integration of cutting-edge information technology, alignment with the EOSC architecture, and efficient resource allocation for the advancement of a more integrated, productive, and globally competitive ENVRI Science Cluster. The ENVRI-Hub NEXT consortium brings together the key ESFRI Landmarks (ACTRIS, AnaEE ERIC, EPOS ERIC, EuroArgo ERIC, IAGOS AISBL, ICOS ERIC, LifeWatch ERIC) and ESFRI Projects (eLTER) participating in ENVRI-FAIR, the ENVRI information technology development and support providers from the University of Amsterdam, SeaDataNet as the key marine data infrastructure, FMI for the close relationship to EOSC Association and stakeholders, and the EGI Foundation and members of the EGI Federation to implement the operation of the services and the integration with EOSC Core.

Adaptation to climate change requires in-depth understanding of climate change driven risks, including their determinants (hazards, exposure and vulnerabilities) and impacts to human, production and natural systems. Integrated Research Infrastructure Services for Climate Change Risks (IRISCC) is a consortium of diverse and complementary leading research infrastructures (RIs) covering disciplines from natural sciences to social sciences, across different domains and sectors. IRISCC provides scientific and knowledge services to foster cutting-edge research and evidence-based policymaking to improve Europe's resilience to climate change. IRISCC ensures a “one-stop-shop” for various user communities on climate change risk related RI services by setting up a dedicated Catalogue of services and related access management system both for granting transnational (onsite and remote) and offering virtual access. The Catalogue of services will be built through three consecutive releases, each delivering increasingly integrated services to its user communities. The IRISCC service integration will include Service Design Labs employing co-design and transdisciplinary action, and Service Demonstrators benchmarking the integrated cross-RI services. In addition to services aimed towards the scientific community, IRISCC will offer knowledge services aimed towards policymakers and other stakeholders. This is done together with risk management platforms. The research enabled by IRISCC contributes to future reports on climate change effects (IPCC, IPBES) as well as policy- and decision-making to meet the targets of climate adaptation strategies. IRISCC contributes to training a new generation of scientists to efficiently use RI services and for data stewardship. Data from IRISCC will be open and made available in compliance with FAIR principles and linked to European initiatives such as EOSC. Strong links will be created between IRISCC and current and future efforts under Horizon Europe.

The goal of CARGO-ACT is to deliver a clear roadmap for sustainable global cooperation between key ground-based aerosol, cloud and trace gas research infrastructures, each having invested in infrastructure and services to support their observing networks with a long-term perspective, with a view to consolidating into a sustainable global research infrastructure in the future. There is a strong desire for global integration from the research community, including weather, climate, and air quality monitoring and modelling, and in particular from space agencies, since global networks of ground-based observations are an essential component complementing Earth Observation from space, providing calibration and validation of the remote sensing information collected by current and future satellite missions. The integration of the current ground-based networks, which may have different interests and priorities, requires cooperation and agreements at the global level, including engagement with relevant stakeholders. Their service provision is not limited to data services, but includes access to the measurement facilities, reference instruments, reference standards and laboratories, all of which are topics to be assessed in CARGO-ACT. The specific objectives of CARGO-ACT are to, develop sustainable partnerships and decision making processes with relevant partners, demonstrate the benefits of converging interoperability and standards to stakeholders and the global research community, establish the mechanisms for providing international access to distributed research infrastructures and develop a roadmap for upscaling towards an integrated global research infrastructure for aerosol, cloud and trace gases.

Aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) remain the largest source of uncertainty in past, present, and future radiative forcing, impeding credible climate projections. ACI effects are expected to change dramatically as we enter a post-fossil world, characterized by strong reductions in anthropogenic aerosol emissions but with increasingly larger impacts from natural aerosols. Although we expect cleaner clouds compared to today, ACI in this post-fossil state may considerably differ from preindustrial conditions, owing to shifts in climate and changes in sources region characteristics. CleanCloud will address the major gaps impeding robust ACI assessments, improve their representation in current and next generation kilometer-scale climate models , quantify and understand their regional and temporal effects, and how they will evolve in the transition to the post-fossil regime. To accomplish this, CleanCloud will 1) carry out targeted field experiments in European climate hotspots; 2) develop state-of-the-art algorithms and analysis tools to obtain new proxies and diagnostics for key ACI-related processes; 3) contribute to the calibration and validation of upcoming satellite missions in coordination with the satellite community; 4) improve and better constrain kilometer- and large-scale climate models using advanced machine learning, data assimilation and model calibration, confronting perturbed physics ensembles with existing and new satellite and in-situ data; and 5) assess the role of aerosols in the life cycle of convective systems, focusing on precipitation formation and the impacts on the hydrological cycle, and 6) enhance the exploitation of data centres, measurement programs, international campaigns, laboratory studies, and models. With these, CleanCloud will profoundly strengthen European Research on climate change, significantly contribute to upcoming climate assessments, and benefit society through models that enable improved weather and seasonal predictions.

Experimental research on solar radiation modification (SRM) is controversial and feared to distract from climate change mitigation or leading to dangerous SRM use. It is not clear whether and under which conditions and governance arrangements experimental SRM research may be desirable for reducing uncertainties and lowering the probability of problematic outcomes including unilateral deployment elsewhere. Co-CREATE seeks to help structure this decision problem through co-creative scoping, analysis, and engagement for the development of principles and guidelines. The project starts with a series of scoping notes that outline key dimensions of experimental SRM research including possible cases and their geographical, stake- and rightsholder, and regulatory implications, which ground the conceptual work. Co-CREATE then analyses and develops decision-support tools by asking what we can learn from governance analogues, and how various (risk) evaluation frameworks may help identify key characteristics of research proposals. Co-CREATE furthermore analyses possible legal and procedural conditions including appropriate participation. Co-CREATE itself will for the development of these governance elements enter an extensive stakeholder and rightsholder dialogue that validates preliminary analytical work, ensures stakeholders’ diverse dimensions of concern are included, and strengthens deliberative capacity. Co-CREATE proposes guidelines and principles to facilitate decision-making by the relevant authorities on broader categories of experimental research of SRM as well as case-by-case decisions. A draft will be discussed at a Co-CREATE hosted conference and later refined based on feedback received. Proposed principles and guidelines will be grounded in a understanding of scientific merit, physical and political dimensions of risk and risk-attenuation benefit, and consideration of broader sets of values and concerns – co-creatively identified during the project.

TipESM brings together scientists from a range of disciplines to deliver a step change in our understanding of climate tipping points in the Earth system, including their impact on ecosystems and society, combined with a set of early warning indicators and safe future emission pathways that minimise the risk of exceeding such tipping points. TipESM assembles the latest Earth System Models (ESMs), including recent improvements to key processes: ice sheets, vegetation and land use, permafrost, marine and terrestrial biogeochemistry. In cooperation with the WCRP/Future-Earth project TIPMIP, TipESM will organise an international collaboration to design and realise a common ESM experiment protocol that will facilitate analysis of the likelihood of occurrence, and potential reversibility, of tipping elements at different levels and duration of global warming. These experiments, will be combined with more project-specific ESM experiments, designed to investigate interactions and feedbacks across the Earth system. Based on the TipESM experiments, existing simulations and observations, we will investigate tipping points, their driving processes, potential early warning signals and cascading effects across the climate, ecosystems and society. Including the most important components of the Earth system in our ESMs will also allow TipESM to identify potentially unknown tipping elements, their precursors and impacts. TipESM brings together expertise from climate science and climate impacts to investigate both the role of gradual climate change for tipping in individual ecosystems and society, and the impact of crossing specific climate tipping points for society, ecosystems, and biodiversity. Project findings will be synthesised into a tipping points risk register. New knowledge and data from TipESM will be regularly communicated to a broad range of research communities, policymakers and the public, contributing to a prepared and resilient society.

Global warming continues at an alarming rate, presenting unprecedented challenges to society that require urgent, science-led mitigation and adaptation. Earth system models (ESMs) are essential tools for projecting climate change, providing important information to decision makers. However, confidence in predicted climate change is undermined by a number of uncertainties; (i) ESMs disagree on how much the Earth will warm for a given increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) (Earth’s equilibrium climate sensitivity); (ii) how much emitted CO2 will stay in the atmosphere to warm the planet (half the CO2 emitted by humans has been absorbed by the land and ocean) and (iii) how much excess heat in the Earth system will enter the ocean interior, delaying surface warming (~90 % of the heat in the Earth system goes into the ocean). Central to these uncertainties are poorly understood, and poorly modelled, Earth system feedbacks, in particular cloud feedbacks, carbon cycle feedbacks and ocean heat uptake. Poor representation of these phenomena degrades the accuracy of ESM projections, with implications for anticipating future climate extremes and societal impacts. We aim to improve the representation of these feedbacks in ESMs, reducing uncertainty in global warming projections. We propose a multidisciplinary approach, focused on “learning” how to accurately describe processes underpinning these feedbacks, through a fusion of observations with advanced machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). Such data and approaches, constrained by the laws of physics, will deliver a step change in the accuracy of Earth system models. AI4PEX will place Europe at the forefront of a revolution in Earth system modelling, leading to increased accuracy of climate change projections and superior support for implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement and the European Green Deal.

OptimESM will develop a novel generation of Earth system models (ESMs), combining high-resolution with an unprecedented representation of key physical and biogeochemical processes. These models will be used to deliver cutting-edge and policy-relevant knowledge around the consequences of reaching or exceeding different levels of global warming, including the risk of rapid change in key Earth system phenomena and the regional impacts arising both from the level of global warming and the occurrence of abrupt changes. OptimESM will realise these goals by bringing together four ESM groups with Integrated Assessment Modelling teams, as well as experts in model evaluation, Earth system processes, machine learning, climate impacts and science communication. OptimESM will further develop new policy-relevant emission and land use scenarios, including ones that realise the Paris Agreement, and others that temporarily or permanently overshoot the Paris Agreement targets. Using these scenarios, OptimESM will deliver long-term projections that will increase our understanding of the risk for triggering potential tipping points in phenomena such as, ice sheets, sea ice, ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, permafrost, and terrestrial ecosystems. OptimESM will further our understanding of the processes controlling such tipping points, attribute the risk of exceeding various tipping points to the level of global warming, and develop a range of techniques to forewarn the occurrence of tipping points in the real world. Artificial Intelligence (AI-) methods for statistical downscaling will be developed and applied to improve our understanding of the effect of long-term global change and tipping points on regional climate, particularly extreme events. New knowledge and data from OptimESM will be actively communicated to other disciplines, such as the impacts and policy research communities, as well as the general public. This knowledge will provide a solid foundation for actionable science-based policies.

MRV4SOC aims at designing a comprehensive, robust, and cost-effective Tier 3 approach, accounting for changes in as many C pools as possible, to estimate GHG and full C budgets, coupling C and N cycles, quantify Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) accumulation, and assess the results of traditional management practices and C farming. The main challenges addressed in MRV4SOC are: i) monitoring changes in SOC accumulation due to climate change and socio-economic pressures; ii) accounting for C and N cycles in full C budgets; iii) development of scientifically-sound, standard, and transparent Tier 3 methodology at different scales, iv) implementation of high-quality in-situ and RS data for testing methods and scale-up purposes; iv) standardisation of Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification schemes to ensure transparency, robustness, and cost-effectiveness; and v) a lack of trust in Voluntary Carbon Markets. To overcome these challenges, MRV4SOC will develop 6 specific objectives, which will be measurable, verifiable, and monitored through KPIs pointing at specific targets. MRV4SOC proposes a comprehensive 3-year work plan that ranges from the assessment of C pools in 9 land use/ land cover classes located in 14 Demonstration Sites (DS); to the potential integration of the approacMRV4SOC aims at designing a comprehensive and robust Tier 3 approach accounting for changes in as many C pools as possible (above-ground biomass, below ground-biomass, litter, dead wood, soil organic carbon, and harvested wood products) fully aligned with national GHG reporting. MRV4SOC seeks to develop solutions applicable for different spatio- temporal scales and climate change scenarios and validated for a wide variety of ecosystems in arid, temperate, and continental climate zones in collaboration with local stakeholders. The proposed approach will help establish reliable and transparent C farming credits within a cost-effective monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) methodological framework.

interTwin co-designs and implements the prototype of an interdisciplinary Digital Twin Engine (DTE), an open source platform that provides generic and tailored software components for modelling and simulation to integrate application-specific Digital Twins (DTs). Its specifications and implementation are based on a co-designed conceptual model - the DTE blueprint architecture - guided by the principles of open standards and interoperability. The ambition is to develop a common approach to the implementation of DTs that is applicable across the whole spectrum of scientific disciplines and beyond to facilitate developments and collaboration. Co-design involves DT use cases for High energy physics, Radio astronomy, Astroparticle physics, Climate research, and Environmental monitoring, whose complex requirements are expected to significantly advance the state of the art of modelling and simulation using heterogeneous distributed digital infrastructures, advanced workflow composition, real-time data management and processing, quality and uncertainty tracing of models, data fusion and analytics. As a result, a consolidation of software technologies supporting research will emerge. The validation of the technology with multiple infrastructure facilities, will boost the accessibility of users to technological capacity and the support of AI uptake in research. interTwin builds on the capacities of experts from pan-European research infrastructures and the long tail of science, an open source community of technology providers that will deliver TRL 6/7 capabilities to implement the interdisciplinary DTE, experts of the European Centre of Excellence in Exascale Computing, and infrastructure providers from the EGI Federation, PRACE and EuroHPC supporting data and compute intensive science. interTwin key exploitable results will be continually co-developed and aligned with the contribution of external initiatives such as Destination Earth, EOSC, EuroGEO and EU data spaces.

Skills4EOSC brings together leading experiences of national, regional, institutional and thematic Open Science (OS) and Data Competence Centres from 18 European countries with the goal of unifying the current training landscape into a common and trusted pan-European ecosystem, in order to accelerate the upskilling of European researchers and data professionals in the field of FAIR and Open Data, intensive-data science and Scientific Data Management. Competence Centres (CC) are seen as centres of gravity of OS and EOSC activities in their countries. These entities can either be established national initiatives (as is the case of ICDI in Italy) or initiatives under establishment (e.g. Austria, Greece and the Nordic countries) or organizations which have the leading or mandated contribution to the OS activities nationally. CCs pool the expertise available within research institutions, universities and thematic and cross-discipline research infrastructures. They offer training and support, empowerment, lifelong learning, professionalization and resources to a variety of stakeholders, including not only researchers and data stewards, but also funders, decision makers, civil servants, and industry. Thanks to their position at the heart of the above described multi-stakeholder landscape, the CCs represented by the Skills4EOSC partners play a pivotal role in national plans for Open Science and in the interaction with scientific communities. They also have close access to policy makers and the related funding streams. The Skills4EOSC project will leverage this reference role to establish a pan-European network of CCs on OS and data, coordinating the work done at the national level to upskill professionals in this field. The Skills4EOSC CC network will drive the co-creation of harmonised trainer accreditation pathways, academic and professional curricula and skills quality assurance, recognition frameworks, and learning material creation methodologies.