Open AccessThe World Record Storm Surge and the Most Intense Southern Hemisphere Tropical Cyclone: New Evidence and Modeling
Author(s) -
Jonathan Nott,
Camilla Green,
Ian Townsend,
Jeffrey Callaghan
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
bulletin of the american meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.367
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1520-0477
pISSN - 0003-0007
DOI - 10.1175/bams-d-12-00233.1
Subject(s) - tropical cyclone , storm surge , climatology , northern hemisphere , surge , landfall , cyclone (programming language) , storm , meteorology , environmental science , geology , oceanography , geography , field programmable gate array , computer science , computer hardware
The world record for a storm surge is 13 m, occurring during landfall of Tropical Cyclone (TC) Mahina in northeast Australia, March 1899. The central pressure of this cyclone has been reported as 914 hPa as measured by a ship's barometers during passage of the eye. The accuracy of these measurements is poor, as the only source for this information has been thirdhand accounts in an anonymously authored report. Modeling of this event, at 914 hPa, also suggests that the highest storm surge that could have been generated at the site of landfall of TC Mahina is approximately 5 m, well short of the reported 13 m. This study reexamined the evidence for this event and based on archived firsthand accounts, it seems more likely that the central pressure of this event was 880 hPa, which when modeled can generate a storm surge over 9 m and a total inundation (surge plus tide and wave action) of approximately 13 m. The central pressure of TC Mahina may also be the lowest recorded for a Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone