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AETHERIA: AI-powered digital twins for coastal resilience

Generative AI and surrogate digital twins for human-centric coastal and Earth-system resilience and impact assessment

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Objective

AETHERIA will develop an inclusive, AI-powered Digital Twin platform that transforms complex Earth and ocean data into localised and actionable information for coastal climate adaptation. Building on European infrastructures such as Destination Earth and the European Digital Twin Ocean, the project will combine real-time observations, environmental simulations and artificial intelligence to assess risks including flooding, coastal erosion, marine pollution and deteriorating water quality.

A multilingual generative AI interface will enable public authorities, planners, emergency services and other non-technical users to explore “what-if” scenarios using natural language. The platform will provide explainable results, uncertainty information and decision-support tools that help users compare adaptation measures and understand their environmental, social and economic consequences.

The solutions will be developed and validated with stakeholders in four European pilot areas: Crete and Cyprus, the Varna–Danube region, Cabo de Gata–Níjar and the Oslo Fjord. In the Oslo Fjord pilot, AETHERIA will support high-resolution coastal forecasting, water-quality monitoring, pollution and runoff warnings, and the identification of locations suitable for sustainable aquaculture.

SINTEF's role in the project

SINTEF leads the development of AI and machine-learning models for coastal impact simulation and prediction. The models will combine environmental data and simulation results to provide validated, uncertainty-aware assessments for AETHERIA’s Digital Twin platform.

SINTEF will also assist Hvaler Municipality in using the project’s data, models and decision-support tools to support a sustainable blue economy in the Oslo Fjord and Hvaler archipelago. The Smart Data Group contributes expertise in semantic interoperability, intelligent data pipelines and data-driven digital twins.

Key facts

Project duration

2026 - 2029

Funding

  • Programme: Horizon Europe
  • Project type: Research and Innovation Action
  • EU grant: Approximately EUR 9.6 million
  • Grant agreement: 101292478
  • SINTEF project contribution: Approximately EUR 606,000

Partners

  • Project coordinator: Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, FORTH
  • Consortium: 20 partners from 11 European countries