July 29, 1870 Tsunami: Adriatic Sea, Croatia
A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Adriatic Sea, Croatia on July 29, 1870. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.
Where the waves reached
The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
Travel times
How long the first wave took to reach each part of the ocean, one line for each hour up to 24, estimated from the source and the depth of the sea.
The travel times are computed in your browser, which needs JavaScript.
- 1 to 4 hours
- 5 to 6 hours
- 7 to 14 hours
- 15 hours and more
Computed in your browser the way NOAA’s own travel time maps are: the wave travels at the square root of gravity times the depth, over NOAA’s ETOPO1 depths averaged to a 10 arc-minute grid. Checked against NOAA NCEI’s maps for 21 tsunamis over the first 24 hours, these lines fall within 10 minutes of NCEI’s at half the points compared and within 52 minutes at 9 in 10. They give when the first wave could arrive, not how high it is; bays, harbors and island chains finer than the grid can see it later. Not for use in a warning: see tsunami.gov.
The tsunami
- Date
- July 29, 1870
- Source
- Adriatic Sea, Croatia
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 3
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 43.030° N, 16.150° E
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
1870, July 29. Adriatic Sea, Dalmatia. It seemed as though an explosion was heard in Lesina and after that window panes started to tinkle. The earthquake occurred on the Island of Vis (Lissa) at 18h45m, after which the sea was extraordinarily rough. (reference #2130)
1870 July 29. Adriatic Sea. Island of Lissa (Vis) (m=iii). (references #15, #20, #28)
1870, July 29. Adriatic Sea. Islands of Vis (Lissa) (iii). 1 29 July of 1870 (tsunami was felt) Adriatic Sea. Island of Vis (Lissa) was hit with rather strong. (reference #3470)
1879 [typo?], July 29. Adriatic Sea, Island of Vis. Tsunami intensity iii. (reference #2426)
1870, July 29, Vis. On 29 July at around 5 h 45 min pm, a series of three shocks, the last being the strongest (no data in Herak et al. 1996), was felt all over the island of Vis. A light south-easterly breeze was blowing, and the sea was slightly rippled; after the earthquake, the sea became very disturbed (Geologische Reichsanstalt 1870a) [...] In the Croatian earthquake catalogue (Herak et al. 1996), there are no data related to the event of 29 July. Moreover, the earthquake in Ancona is not mentioned in the Italian earthquake catalogues or in contemporary Italian newspapers. The reports above indicate that the trembling at Vis and the mentioned damages at Ancona could have been related to an underground earthquake with its epicentre in the open Adriatic, and the disturbed sea level at Vis could have been a weak tsunami or a seaquake. However, because there are no verified data on the earthquake, we cannot consider the tsunami event as being reliable. (reference #9531)
Every runup
Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.
| Where | Country | Km from source | Water height, m | Inland, m | Measured by | First wave, UTC | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lissa, Island of Vis | Croatia | 4 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1870The 1800sTsunamis of CroatiaThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 3455.