August 6, 1983 Tsunami: North Aegean Sea, Greece
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7 earthquake began at North Aegean Sea, Greece on August 6, 1983 at 15:43:51 UTC. 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
- August 6, 1983, 15:43:51 UTC
- Source
- North Aegean Sea, Greece
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7, 2 km deep
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 2
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
- Source location
- 40.142° N, 24.766° E
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million) 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.
1983, August 6. A magnitude 7.0 Mw (USGS) earthquake at 15:44 UT in the Aegean Sea caused slight damage on Lemnos and damage to four monasteries in the Mount Athos area. Papaioannou reported a weak sea wave observed at Myrina, Lemnos Island and gives the tsunami intensity as a 2+ (Validity 4.). The PDE gives the focal mechanism as a strike slip fault.(reference #1315)
1983, August 6, 15:43 UTC. 40 N, 24.7 E, magnitude 6.8, intensity VI (Lemnos). It is a strong earthquake of the northern Aegean which was very strongly felt in Lemnos, Thassos and Lesbos. It caused a light sea wave in Myrina of Lemnos (Papaioannou Ch., 1983, personal communication). It was followed by aftershocks the largest of which occurred on 10 October (10:17, M=5.7). (reference #4408)
Weak wave in Lemnos (validity 2). (reference #2427)
1983, August 6, 15:43:51.9 UTC. Tsunami reliability 3-4 (3: probable and 4: definite tsunami). Tsunami on Lemnos Island; light tsunami waves in Mirina of Lemnos. (reference #9275)
1983, August 6, 15:43 UTC. Tsunami reliability 1 (improbable tsunami). Tsunami cause submarine earthquake. (reference #11164)
The 6 August 1983, M = 6.8 Lemnos earthquake triggered a light tsunami in Lesvos island and in Myrina coastal area of Lemnos island (reference #13873)
Tsunamis were produced by the 9 July 1956, 6 July 1965, 19 February 1968, 15 April 1979, 24 February 1981 and 6 August 1983 Lemnos (M, = 7.0) events... A typo in the table of this article on p. 83 lists the tsunami observed at Lemnos on Aug 8, 1983, but in the paragraph preceding the table on the same page it is described as Aug 6, 1983. (reference #97)
Reference #2130 assigns this tsunami to Aug 8, 1983 instead of Aug 6, 1983 due to the typo mentioned above.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Myrina, Lemnos Island | Greece | 39 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1983The 1900sTsunamis of GreeceThe 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 2146.