Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow model risk and validation on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.
Risk Science and MethodsAny placeTwin builder
The central Apennines: L'Aquila, Amatrice and Norcia, Italy. Flat plan of the same data: relief, the three reference epicentres with magnitude and depth, and the numbers below; the sampler's figure shows one precomputed field with its parameters. The 3D twin opens on devices that can draw it, once its data and code have been checked.
Terrain 24 to 2,805 m
3 reference earthquakes, M6.2 to M6.6
Earthquakes M4.5 and above, past week: read live when the 3D twin opens
USGS ShakeMap intensity contours: read live when the 3D twin opens
Credits and dates per layer are listed under the stage. Relief in the twin is exaggerated ×1.5 for legibility.
Drag to move, right drag or Shift with a drag to turn and tilt, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows move, Shift with arrows turn and tilt, + and – zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.
Reference earthquakes The three reference main shocks (L'Aquila 2009, Amatrice 2016, Norcia 2016): origin, magnitude, depth, time and review status from the USGS detail record, the hypocentre drawn below the ground. U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program. read 2026-10-17.Estimate: Reported solutions as reviewed by the USGS; magnitudes and depths carry the USGS stated uncertainties, which the event page links rather than restates.
Earthquakes M4.5 and above, past week (live) Reviewed and automatic seismic solutions of the past week inside the box, with magnitude and depth, read from the world feed and filtered to the box in your browser; the distribution fitter reads the same world feed for its sample. U.S. Geological Survey; reported detections, automatic solutions preliminary; never a warning. Live: this page requests earthquake.usgs.gov when the layer is opened; the data date is printed with it.Estimate: Reported detections; automatic solutions are preliminary; never a warning.
USGS ShakeMap intensity contours The ShakeMap MMI contours of each reference event draped on the terrain, read from the cont_mmi.json file the event's detail record names: what one realisation of the sampler's field looked like. U.S. Geological Survey ShakeMap and U.S. Geological Survey PAGER (preliminary, automatically generated; see the USGS disclaimers), with the product version and time. Live: this page requests earthquake.usgs.gov when the layer is opened; the data date is printed with it.Estimate: Preliminary and automatically generated; PAGER levels are USGS estimates with uncertainty, never a warning or a loss figure of the Academy.
Why this place: One box of about 82 by 77 kilometres holds the 2009 L'Aquila (M6.3), 2016 Amatrice (M6.2) and Norcia (M6.6) earthquakes, the Gran Sasso massif and the normal-fault basins between them. It is the reference case for every method the faculty teaches: magnitude-frequency fitting on a dense catalogue, return periods, probabilistic hazard, model validation, and risk communication after the L'Aquila trial of 2012, which turned on how probabilities were communicated. Data quality: Copernicus DEM GLO-30 covers the relief in two tiles, the USGS detail records of the three main shocks are reviewed, and the live feed is open. It connects to the Quantitative risk analysis and statistics, Catastrophe, exposure and vulnerability modelling, Uncertainty and decision making, Risk communication and risk literacy and Geospatial analysis, Earth observation and GeoAI disciplines and to the spatial intelligence pages of the ecosystem sites.
Flat plan of the same data: relief, the three reference epicentres with magnitude and depth, and the numbers below; the sampler's figure shows one precomputed field with its parameters. The 3D twin opens on devices that can draw it, once its data and code have been checked.
The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).
03Live map
Connected activity in the Nordic and Baltic region
Night-time lights and population density, the footprint of electrified, connected activity, over the Nordic and Baltic region.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Connected activity, framed on the Nordic and Baltic region.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
Optional layers (3 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
04The subject
The subject, methods and measures and debates and bodies
The field and its scope
For model validators, model owners, data scientists and risk committees who must decide whether a model is fit for the decision it supports and keep it that way in use.
Quantities and units
Methods and their limits
Each method is listed with what it assumes and where it fails.
What the field debates
Bodies that set practice, and the data they publish
Bodies and standards are named so learners can find and apply their published work; the Academy teaches their use and links to the publisher, and no affiliation is implied.
05The method
From a model's claim to a back-test verdict: expected exceptions, observed exceptions and the zone the count falls in
A model that claims a confidence level makes a testable promise about how often outcomes will exceed its figure; counting those exceptions over a test window and comparing the count with the expected distribution gives the verdict, and the verdict feeds the model's tier and its permitted use.
Sources: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, SR 11-7: Guidance on Model Risk Management (2011); Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Supervisory framework for the use of backtesting in conjunction with the internal models approach (1996); Bank of England PRA, SS1/23 Model risk management principles for banks (2023); Box, Science and statistics, Journal of the American Statistical Association (1976); Kupiec, Techniques for verifying the accuracy of risk measurement models, Journal of Derivatives (1995).
06At a glance
At a glance, with 5 related topics
Model risk and validation at a glance
risksacademy.comrisk-sciencediscipline
Model risk and validation at a glance
Open, 0
In preparation, 1
Also taught here, 2
Subtopics, 8
Course codes from the curriculum; study levels L1 to L4.
How Model risk and validation is taught, as a process you can run
Press Play to run this process from this page's own data.
08Learning
Learning, practice and connections
Achievements in this discipline
Pathways that teach it
Where the subject is practised
The Global Risks Alliance (GRA)AI and Financial Model RiskCredit and pricing models, Explainability and fairness, Generative AI in finance, Human in the loop controls, Model monitoring and drift, Model risk governance, Stress and scenario models, Third party models
Field platforms of the ecosystem where the subject is studied and applied.
The three Foundry systems where it is practised
FoundryNXS-NXQ systemFitness of models for a taskCompetence room
Foundry system pages describe what each system and its rooms are designed to do; the courses teach the methods these systems apply.
Across the ecosystem
09Take part
Take part in Risk Science and Methods
Start from who you are.
10References
Core references and where to begin
Start with Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, then Bank of England Prudential Regulation Authority, then Box.
11Questions
Questions, answers and key terms
Is study here free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the courses in model risk and validation?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.
Key terms
Term
Model risk
The potential for loss or poor decisions from errors in models or their misuse.
Term
Validation
Independent review that a model is sound and fit for its purpose.
Term
Back-testing
Comparing model predictions with what happened.
Term
Drift
Change in data or relationships that degrades a model over time.
ReportsContribute
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
Risk Academy
Related
Around Model risk and validation
Model risk and validation
Prepare with a related course
Open courses in connected disciplines teach the methods this discipline will build on.
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Independence
Editors and the expert reviewers named on each article decide what we publish. Funders and partners do not review or approve articles before publication.
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