February 10, 1903 Tsunami: Guam, Mariana Islands, US Territories

Name: February 10, 1903 Tsunami: Guam, Mariana Islands, US Territories
Start: 1903-02-10
Location: Guam, Mariana Islands, US Territories

February 10, 1903 · 0.15 m · Very doubtful tsunami

A tsunami caused by an earthquake began at Guam, Mariana Islands, US Territories on February 10, 1903 at 02:28 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.15 meters. 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

Tsunami warnings in force

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: February 10, 1903, 02:28 UTC
Source: Guam, Mariana Islands, US Territories
Cause: Earthquake
Earthquake: The earthquake
Maximum water height: 0.15 m (0.5 ft)
Runups recorded: 1
Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura): 2
Waters: Ocean
How certain: Very doubtful tsunami
Source location: 14.000° N, 143.300° E

The toll

Damage: Limited (under about $1 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Houses damaged: Few (about 1 to 50) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

Reference #482:

1903, February 10, 02:28 UTC. There was a series of earthquakes and the (level of the sea?) rose 0.15 meters. (Montessus de Ballore, 1903 cited by Soloview et al. 1984). Probably a 0.15 m tsunami would not have been observed or reported so the change would have been due to a rise or drop of the land. Validity 1.

Reference #414:

1903, beginning of February. Validity definite. There was a series of underground shocks on Guam Island. The level [of the sea?] rose 15 cm (6 inches).

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
Guam, Mariana Islands, GU doubtful	US Territories	176	0.15		Eyewitness observation of water height

Every tsunami in 1903 The 1900s Tsunamis of US Territories The earthquake This day in weather history Alerts 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 2772.