Tsunamis in 1946

November 13, 1946 Tsunami: N. Kuril Islands, Russia

November 13, 1946 · Probable tsunami

A tsunami caused by a volcano began at N. Kuril Islands, Russia on November 13, 1946 at 06:00 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

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
November 13, 1946, 06:00 UTC
Source
N. Kuril Islands, Russia
Cause
Volcano
Runups recorded
0
Waters
Ocean
How certain
Probable tsunami
Source location
48.092° N, 153.200° E

The toll

The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.

More

Every tsunami in 1946The 1900sTsunamis of RussiaThe eruptionThis 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 1769.