Journal article
A 481-meter-high landslide-tsunami in a cruise ship–frequented Alaska fjord
- Abstract:
- Early in the morning of 10 August 2025, a >64 × 106-cubic meter landslide struck Tracy Arm fjord in Alaska. The landslide was preconditioned by glacial retreat caused by climate change. The resulting 481 m runup megatsunami followed an initial 100-m-high breaking wave traveling at >70 meters per second. The landslide was preceded by several days of microseismicity, which increased in rate and magnitude until ~1 hour before failure. The landslide produced globally observed long-period seismic waves equivalent in size to a magnitude 5.4 earthquake. A long-period (~66 second) global seismic signal, produced by a landslide-induced seiche trapped within the fjord, persisted for up to 36 hours, the second time a days-long seiche has been thus observed. With fjord regions increasingly visited by cruise ships, and climate change making similar events more likely, this unanticipated, near-miss event highlights the growing risk from landslides and tsunamis in coastal environments.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
-
-
(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 360.5KB, Terms of use)
-
- Publisher copy:
- 10.1126/science.aec3187
Authors
+ Carlsberg Foundation
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/01kpjmx04
- Grant:
- CF24-2201
+ Schmidt Family Foundation
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/014bj2y47
- Grant:
- AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship
+ United States Geological Survey
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/035a68863
- Grant:
- G25AC00279-00
+ U.S. National Science Foundation
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/021nxhr62
- Grant:
- NSF CMMI-2603123
- EAR-2314212
+ Natural Environment Research Council
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/02b5d8509
- Grant:
- NE/B000184/1
- UKRI184
- Publisher:
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Journal:
- Science More from this journal
- Volume:
- 392
- Issue:
- 6803
- Article number:
- eaec3187
- Place of publication:
- United States
- Publication date:
- 2026-05-06
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
1095-9203
- ISSN:
-
0036-8075
- Pmid:
-
42089535
- Language:
-
English
- Pubs id:
-
2415912
- Local pid:
-
pubs:2415912
- Source identifiers:
-
W7160384600
- Deposit date:
-
2026-07-21
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Shugar et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2026
- Rights statement:
- © 2026 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.
- Notes:
- The author accepted manuscript (AAM) of this paper has been made available under the University of Oxford's Open Access Publications Policy, and a CC BY public copyright licence has been applied.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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