The inhabitants of Fakarava were evangelized by the French priest Honoré Laval in 1849. His ships, Vostok and Mirni, arrived at the atoll on July 17, 1820. The first European to arrive in Fakarava atoll was the Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. It is not certain when the first Polynesians arrived on the island, but they were already there when the first Europeans arrived. If you visit the island you will also be impressed by the blue shades of the lagoon. On his visit to the atoll Henri Matisse was struck by the infinite shades of blue of the lagoon. It seems that the famous “Bleu Matisse” was born after a visit by the French painter to the Fakarava atoll. While at the southern end of the atoll where the small village of Tetamanu is located there is a smaller “passe”, that of Tumakohua or Tetamanu.
This opening is the largest of all atolls in French Polynesia. The largest “passe”, that of Garuae, is located to the north near the airport and the main village of Rotoava.
The atoll, which has a rectangular shape, has two “passe”, ie two openings that connect the internal lagoon with the Pacific Ocean. The land area of the atoll is only 16 sq km, but its lagoon is the second largest in all of French Polynesia (after that of Rangiroa) and extends for 1,121 sq km. This atoll is among the largest in the Tuamotu, measuring 60 km in length and 21 km in maximum width. The island is very famous among diving enthusiasts for its spectacular coral reefs and for the abundance of fish. In the Tuamotu, 450 km north-east of Tahiti, between the atolls of Toau, Niau, Faaite, Raraka and Kauehi, is the atoll of Fakarava. But over the millennia they have slowly been eroded, leaving visible the shape of the ancient volcanic island, now limited by the coral reef. These islands were originally formed from high volcanic peaks, such as those that can be seen in Tahiti and Moorea. The atolls are flat coral islands that include vast lagoons within them. Tuamotu, Maldives, etc.), where such events can be hypothesised to be more influential than extreme climate events.The Tuamotu archipelago is a large group of islands in French Polynesia formed almost exclusively by atolls. This study, which reveals an important research gap in atoll geomorphic studies, calls for the more systematic assessment of the geomorphic impacts of moderate climate events on atoll islands, espe- cially in atoll regions that are located outside the cyclone belt (e.g. One year after the event, intertidal sediment deposits had significantly migrated landward.
The ero- sional impacts of the storm waves and overwash-induced sediment deposition were lower along shoreline exhibiting high vegetation density. In low-lying areas, the waves crossed over the islands from ocean to lagoon, depositing sediment inland. The effects of this swell event were mainly constructional, as shown by the forma- tion of two small storm ramparts and of extensive sediment sheets and tracts on the conglomerate platform.
Results show that this event, which generated strong swells, predominantly caused shoreline retreat (noted along 54.14% of transects, with the minimum Net Shoreline Movement reaching −45.46 m) along the highly-exposed shoreline section, while the rest of the shoreline pre- dominantly exhibited stability. Based on multi-date image analysis and field observations, the geomorphic impacts of a moderate climate event, tropical low 13F (February 2017), were assessed in the northern part of Fakarava Atoll, northwest- ern Tuamotu Archipelago, in French Polynesia. Abstract : While the geomorphic impacts of extreme climate events, including in particular tropical cyclones and distant- source swells, on atoll islands are widely acknowledged, the influence of moderate climate events, such as trop- ical lows that do not reach the cyclone stage and low-magnitude distant-source swells, has to date been overlooked.