June 6, 1961 Tsunami: Aegean Sea, Italy
A tsunami of meteorological origin began at Aegean Sea, Italy on June 6, 1961. The water rose as high as 0.9 meters. Its effects were recorded at 3 places.
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
The tsunami
- Date
- June 6, 1961
- Source
- Aegean Sea, Italy
- Cause
- Meteorological
- Maximum water height
- 0.9 m (3.0 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 3
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 2
- Tsunami magnitude (Iida)
- -0.1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
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.
1961, June 6. Aegean Sea, islands and eastern Greece. Waves were observed of the following heights: of 1 m on the Island of Crete, 0.3 m in Volos and on the Island of Leros. There was no earthquake. Most likely, seiche oscillations of the sea took place. (reference #2130)
1961, June 9. Tsunami validity 0. Large sea oscillations observed in the Aegean Sea, with no earthquake recorded.
Wave heigths: 90 cm in Crete, 30 cm at Volos and Leros (Papadopoulos, r455).
Ambraseys (r391) and Antonopoulos (r417) who quotes the Bulletin of the Seismological Institute of Athens, postulate a seiche. Papadopoulos (r455) and Soloviev (r414) consider the event a tsunami with unknown cause.
Most probably it was the effect of a storm surge (Papadopoulos, r432). (reference #4139)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Island of Crete | Greece | 0.9 | |||||
| Leros | Greece | 0.3 | |||||
| Volos | Greece | 0.3 |
More
Every tsunami in 1961The 1900sTsunamis of ItalyThis 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 1918.