November 4, 2000 Tsunami: Point Arguello, S. California, United States
A tsunami caused by a landslide began at Point Arguello, S. California, United States on November 4, 2000 at 19:30:00 UTC. The water rose as high as 4.6 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
The tsunami
- Date
- November 4, 2000, 19:30:00 UTC
- Source
- Point Arguello, S. California, United States
- Cause
- Landslide
- Maximum water height
- 4.6 m (15.1 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 34.500° N, 120.650° W
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
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.
Last November 4 the NOAA research vessel Ballena was capsized by a rogue wave. All the crew made it to shore, but the boat sank south of Point Arguello (Santa Barbara County) in about 30 feet of water 1/4 mile from shore. (reference #554)
2000, November 4, runup 7 m, 43 N, 127 W. Point Arguello, California. The Ballena research vessel was sunk. There are four well-defined, mature canyons of the Arguello Canyon system. Each of these canyons exhibits unique and similar head morphologies that suggest collapse structures. These heads all notch the distal edge of the continental shelf in about 100 meters depth of water. They are located
near or over the southwestern margin of the Santa Maria Basin, a major hydrocarbon basin. The EM300 bathymetric images show that all four canyons have detritus lobes that flow down canyon from the heads; these appear to represent evacuated material from beneath the collapsed heads.
Along the downslope margins of the canyons, down-dropped walls and slump material indicate sediment failures occur regularly downslope. These canyons are quite sinuous, and it appears that these bends result from mid-slope canyon wall failure. Authigenic carbonate deposits have been
collected at the heads of some of these canyons. It is speculated that the collapse heads, rilles, depressions and mounds are fluid-induced, possibly by escaping gas and fluids associated with the offshore hydrocarbon-rich Santa Maria Basin. This is possibly a landslide-generated tsunami.
Bernard, 2000. Validity 3. (reference #1315)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Arguello, CA, CA | United States | 9 | 4.6 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
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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 2353.