The Island of Tubuai (Australs Archipelago, South Pacific) was directly
hit by the tropical cyclone (TC) Oli on February 5th, 2010. For the
first time on an island in French Polynesia, we have been able to monitor the
progress and the impact of TC Oli as revealed by the meteorological, GPS and
sea level pressure data. TC Oli is one of the most intense cyclones that have
crossed French Polynesia as evidenced by the pressure level that dropped to 957
hPa associated with wind gusts exceeding 180 km/h. Precipitable water time
series deduced from the GPS data shows that the maximum occurred when the
cyclone hit Tubuai, at the same time as the maximum of the rain rate. The sea
surge reached 1.76 m. A simple model of the flooding of the island shows that
our results are consistent with field observations.
Cite this paper
Barriot, J. , Serafini, J. , Maamaatuaiahutapu, K. and Sichoix, L. (2016). The Island of Tubuai (French Polynesia) Landfall of Cyclone Oli on the 5th of February 2010. Open Access Library Journal, 3, e2615. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1102615.
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