Keynotes A2

9:20 AM - 9:40 AM JST(12:20 AM - 12:40 AM UTC)

[MW49V9HW-02] The CoastPredict Programme; Innovative co-Designed Regional Digital Twins
and Fit-for-Purpose Solutions for Coastal Resilience

*Joaquín Tintoré¹, Nadia Pinardi, Villy Kourafalou, Giovanni Coppini, Mairéad O’Donovan, Emma Heslop, Aletta Yñiguez (1. IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB) (Spain))

The triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution demands urgent action, above all for coastal communities facing increasingly severe hazards. Until recently, the tools to respond effectively at regional and local scales were not available. That has changed: advances in satellite and multi-platform observing systems, forecasting, data science and artificial intelligence, together with their integration into regional-to-local digital twins of the ocean have transformed our ability now to monitor and predict coastal conditions across all scales, from the nearshore to the open ocean. CoastPredict is a flagship GOOS programme endorsed by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, working with coastal countries to improve resilience to climate and ocean-related hazards. It brings together innovative ocean observing and forecasting capabilities in a regionally integrated, stakeholder-informed framework that strengthens science-policy collaboration. By connecting proven scientific tools with decision-making processes, CoastPredict supports early warning systems and climate adaptation planning for communities worldwide. Coastal digital twins combine real-world observations, high-resolution models and AI to replicate coastal conditions. They enable real-time monitoring, prediction and "what-if" scenario analysis to support decisions on extreme events, climate adaptation, hazard mitigation and coastal planning. They are an essential tool of the GlobalCoast, initiative under CoastPredict. GlobalCoast has grown into a bottom-up, co-designed network of 192 Pilot Sites (141 validated) across 77 countries and 30 regions of the global coastal ocean. It was built from local needs and existing capacities rather than top-down design. Sites prioritise long-term climate change impacts (59%) and disaster risk reduction with real-time forecasting (55%). They build on observing, remote-sensing and modelling capacity already in place (71%, 61% and 56% of sites, respectively). The Pilot Sites will be linked through a shared cloud-based digital infrastructure to integrate observations, models, AI and end-user products. This infrastructure is currently in a prototype phase called ‘ProtoCoast’. By applying common, interoperable building blocks across contrasting coastal regimes, GlobalCoast offers a scalable pathway from operational oceanography to transferable coastal digital twin services. Examples of Pilot Digital Twins in specific global coastal ocean pilot sites will be presented and discussed.