June 7, 1931 Tsunami: Dogger Bank, England, United Kingdom
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6 earthquake began at Dogger Bank, England, United Kingdom on June 7, 1931 at 00:25:21 UTC.
Where the waves reached
The source of the tsunami. No runup with a place is recorded for it.
- 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
- June 7, 1931, 00:25:21 UTC
- Source
- Dogger Bank, England, United Kingdom
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 6, 70 km deep
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
- Source location
- 54.000° N, 1.067° 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.
This is the largest known earthquake in the North Sea region and had its epicentre in the Dogger Bank area in the open North Sea. Felt throughout the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, northern France and Germany, southwestern Norway and Denmark. The earthquake damaged buildings in a coastal belt of the eastern UK, circa 30 km in width between Scarborough and Grimsby. The water level in 4 wells in this area were also subject to rapid change. People in boats passing over the epicentral zone reported sounds of a subsea explosion and they also noticed the development of a heavy, confused sea swell that developed in a calm sea bump which subsided relatively rapidly (Ringdal, ref #10918). No tsunami has been reported on the coast. (reference #4139)
More
Every tsunami in 1931The 1900sTsunamis of United KingdomThe earthquakeThis 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 4300.