The federal government has selected a radar satellite company headquartered in Finland to supply bushfire hazard data that can assess property damage.
A media release from ICEYE, a global firm based in Helsinki, announced the partnership. The agreement expands on an existing arrangement to supply flood data to the government and will deliver “bushfire insights in near real-time.”
“Understanding the true impact of floods and bushfires quickly, can transform response and improve recovery outcomes for survivors,” said Andy Read (pictured above), ICEYE’s global head of government solutions. “This partnership is about bringing that transformation to federal, state, and territory-level agencies across Australia.”
The release said that since October last year, the government has used ICEYE’s flood data “to support response and recovery activities across more than 30 agencies at both state and federal level.”
The firm, according to the release, has a constellation of more than 25 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites that monitor the Earth “under any conditions; day or night, through clouds or smoke.”
The release said ICEYE’s bushfire data offering “delivers rapid property damage assessments in near real-time, helping agencies see through the smoke during bushfire events.”
The firm says this will “ultimately improve recovery outcomes for flood- or fire-affected communities.”
The release said ICEYE has analysed 18 large-scale flood events across Australia.
