#64: Using Satellite Data for Modelling Flood Risk - Prof. Paul Bates, Fathom

TerraWatch Space Podcast

Today, I am speaking with Professor Paul Bates, Chairman and Co-founder of Fathom, a UK-based startup specialising in water risk intelligence.

We have already had one episode on floods recently with Floodbase, a company that is working on creating near real-time flood maps, but in this episode with Paul, we discuss how flood risk is measured and modelled, how this data is used to anticipate flood hazards and the role of satellite data in all of this.

In this episode, Paul and I talk about Fathom and their products, the state of flood modelling today and the role of satellite data, why the quality of data is more important than anything else for this use case, some findings from Fathom's research and more.

• Fathom's Website
• Prof. Paul Bates
• FABDEM (Forest And Buildings removed Copernicus DEM)
• Research: UK Future Flood Map
• Research: Inequality in Flooding
• Research: Need for More Investment in Climate Models

---

01:06: Intro

02:32: Fathom - Overview

07:21: How is flood risk modeling done today? What is the status today?

15:02: The value of satellite data in flood risk modelling and the importance of higher quality observations

20:37: Fathom's product portfolio

23:02: Importance of collaborating with research community and whether that is the new norm in the industry

28:07: Some findings from Fathom's research: "UK Future Flood Map", "Inequality in Flooding" and "Need for More Investment in Climate Models"

38:46: State of EO, whether we need more satellite data and Paul's association with the NASA SWOT mission

43:41: What can we do to be optimistic about the state of climate?