A new benchmark

in global flood

mapping

• Mitchell, D.,
• Hawker, L.,
• Savage, J.,
• Bingham, R.,
• Lord, N.,
• Khan, J.,
• Bates, P.,
• Durand, F.,
• Hassan, A.,
• Huq, S.,
• Islam, A.,
• Krien, Y.,
• Neal, J.,
• Sampson, C.,
• Smith, A.,
• Testut, L.

In 2020 Cyclone Amphan made landfall in the Bay of Bengal and was the first super tropical cyclonic storm to occur in the area in over 20 years. This paper explores what would happen if this event were to occur in the future, asking: would the risks associated with it change?

• Hawker, L.,
• Uhe, P.,
• Paulo, L.,
• Sosa, J.,
• Savage, J.,
• Sampson, C.,
• Neal, J.

This work signifies one of the biggest step-changes in global flood modelling capabilities since the advent of the field.

• Wing, O.,
• Lehman, W.,
• Bates, P.,
• Sampson, C.,
• Quinn, N.,
• Smith, A.,
• Neal, J.,
• Porter, J.,
• Kousky, C.

Climate change will have major impact on cost of flooding, according to pioneering research led by Dr Oliver Wing, Chief Research Officer at Fathom

• Bates, P.

This review surveys recent progress made to address fundamental issues surrounding globally consistent mapping of flood hazard in underdeveloped countries. This is achieved through a novel combination of appropriate physics, efficient numerical algorithms, high-performance computing, new sources of big data, and model automation frameworks.

• Bradt, J.,
• Kousky, C.,
• Wing, O.

In a wide-ranging analysis in collaboration with Jacob Bradt (Harvard) and Carolyn Kousky (Wharton), we find voluntary insurance purchases are preferentially taking place in areas where Fathom’s model deviates from FEMA flood maps.

• Chone, G.,
• Biron, P.,
• Buffin-Bélanger, T.,
• Mazgareanu, I.,
• Neal, J.,
• Sampson, C.

In this paper we collaborated with colleagues at the University of Concordia to demonstrate the value of bathymetry estimation in large scale model frameworks by testing across four watersheds in Quebec, Canada.