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Tsunami Run-Up Inundation: Honolulu, Hawaii

Published by Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: January 27, 2026 | Last Modified: 2014-09-26T00:00:00.000+00:00
Computer model simulation of tsunami run-up inundation around Honolulu, Hawaii using current sea level at mean higher high water (MHHW) as its baseline water level. The study area includes the urban corridor stretching from Pearl Harbor to Waikiki and Diamond Head along the south shore of the island of Oahu. The model simulates maximum inundation based on five major historical tsunamis that have impacted Hawaii: 1) The 1946 Aleutian earthquake (8.2 Mw), 2) 1952 Kamchatka earthquake (9.0 Mw), 3) 1957 Aleutian earthquake (8.6 Mw), 4) 1960 Chile earthquake (9.5 Mw), and 5) the 1964 Alaska earthquake (9.2 Mw). Model results produced in 2014 by Dr. Kwok Fai Cheung of the department of Ocean and Resources Engineering (ORE) in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Supported in part by the NOAA Coastal Storms Program (CSP) and the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program. While considerable effort has been made to implement all model components in a thorough, correct, and accurate manner, numerous sources of error are possible. The entire risk associated with the results and performance of these data is assumed by the user. These data should be used strictly as a planning reference and not for navigation, permitting, or other legal purposes.

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