The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
Data and compute infrastructure sits in the middle of a web of dependencies. It needs electricity, cooling, hardware, network connectivity, software supply chains and skilled people. In turn, science, public services, finance and other infrastructure need it. This page sets out the causal, physical, economic, social and ecological links and how stress travels along them. It complements the field overview and the topic on compute, energy and water.
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NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
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For dependencies and consequences, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on night lights, true-colour imagery and population density with true colour from NASA GIBS, framed on the contiguous United States; every other NASA layer, live feed and forecast waits in the layer list.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place; claim ceiling INTEGRATED.
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GeographyFor dependencies and consequences, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on night lights, true-colour imagery and population density with true colour from NASA GIBS, framed on the contiguous United States; every other NASA layer, live feed and forecast waits in the layer list.
Dependencies and consequences in Data and Compute describe how data and compute as well as energy connect to other systems through physical, economic, social and ecological links, and how stress travels along them. Every dependency map states its assumptions, data and uncertainty; it describes connections, not a forecast.
Fig.How GCRI, GRF and GRA share one field while the authorities decide. Design, not a record.
The working screen behind this subject: its structure, terms and states. Names are placeholders and values illustrative.
Data centres and supercomputers draw large, steady loads and need backup power for continuity.
Air or liquid cooling, often using water directly or indirectly, especially in warm climates.
Processors, memory and networking equipment from a small number of manufacturers and fabrication plants.
Terrestrial and submarine fibre that links data centres and users across borders.
Weather, climate, hydrological and epidemiological models need sustained high-performance computing.
Digital identity, payments, health records and benefit systems run on data centres and networks.
Trading, settlement and risk systems depend on low-latency computing and concentrated cloud services.
Grids, water systems and transport increasingly use data platforms and edge computing for operation.
Concentration is the main pattern: many users depend on a few cloud regions, a few hardware suppliers or a few cables, so one failure has wide reach. Common-mode software faults can disable many systems at once, as a faulty update or shared library flaw propagates through everything that uses it. Heat and drought can stress data centre cooling while also stressing the grid that powers them.
Economic and social links follow. Hardware shortages delay research and raise costs for smaller institutions first. Data centre growth can compete with households and industry for grid connections and water, creating local tension. Ecologically, the energy and water footprint of computing adds to pressures on shared resources, and electronic waste carries its own burden.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Interdependency | A two-way dependency between infrastructures, such as power needing telecoms for control while telecoms need power to run. |
| Cascading risk | Risk that a failure in one system or component triggers failures in others that depend on it. |
| Compound event | Two or more hazards or drivers occurring together or in sequence whose joint impact exceeds what either would cause alone, such as drought followed by intense rain; IPCC assessments use the term. |
| Dependency mapping | Tracing the people, processes, technology, facilities and suppliers a service relies on. |
Analysis uses computing, power systems engineering and optimization and operations research. Each analysis states its boundaries, data and uncertainty. Data on private infrastructure and supply chains is often incomplete, so maps describe patterns rather than specific facilities.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.