A 481 m-high landslide-tsunami in a cruise ship-frequented Alaska fjord
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Abstract
Early in the morning of 10 August 2025, a >64 × 106–cubic meter landslide struck Tracy Arm fjord in Alaska. The landslide was preconditioned by glacial retreat caused by climate change. The resulting 481-meter runup megatsunami followed an initial 100-meter-high breaking wave traveling at >70 meters per second. The landslide was preceded by several days of microseismicity, which increased in rate and magnitude until ~1 hour before failure. The landslide produced globally observed long-period seismic waves equivalent in size to a moment magnitude 5.4 earthquake. A long-period (~66 second) global seismic signal, produced by a landslide-induced seiche trapped within the fjord, persisted for up to 36 hours, the second time a days-long seiche had thus been observed. With fjord regions increasingly visited by cruise ships, and climate change making similar events more likely, this unanticipated, near-miss event highlights the growing risk from landslides and tsunamis in coastal environments.
Suggested Citation
Shugar, D., Barnhart, K.R., Berdahl, M., Caplan-Auerbach, J., Ekström, G., Fathian, A., Geertsema, M., Hicks, S.P., Higman, B., Jensen, E.K., Karasozen, E., Lynett, P.J., Lyons, J.J., Monahan, T., Roe, G.H., Svennevig, K., Toney, L., Van Wyk de Vries, M., and West, M.E., 2026, A 481 m-high landslide-tsunami in a cruise ship-frequented Alaska fjord: Science, v. 392, no. 6803, p. 1142-1153, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aec3187.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | A 481 m-high landslide-tsunami in a cruise ship-frequented Alaska fjord |
| Series title | Science |
| DOI | 10.1126/science.aec3187 |
| Volume | 392 |
| Issue | 6803 |
| Publication Date | May 05, 2026 |
| Year Published | 2026 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| Contributing office(s) | Geologic Hazards Science Center - Landslides / Earthquake Geology |
| Description | 12 p. |
| First page | 1142 |
| Last page | 1153 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Alaska |
| Other Geospatial | Tracy Arm |