Scientists have, for the first time, detected a landslide-generated tsunami using satellite data from a research ship.
Landslide-triggered tsunamis are a real danger for coastal communities, especially in narrow fjords where steep cliffs can trap and boost the power of incoming waves. While most tsunami warning systems rely on detecting earthquakes, they often miss the more localized ground movements caused by landslides.
Now, for the first time, scientists have detected tsunami waves from a landslide using data from a ship’s satellite navigation system. The study, led by researchers from CIRES and the University of Colorado Boulder and published in Geophysical Research Letters, reveals how this method could significantly improve tsunami detection and early warning systems. This new approach holds the potential to deliver critical, life-saving alerts to communities at risk.
“Landslides into water can produce a tsunami, and some of them can be quite large and destructive,” said CIRES Fellow Anne Sheehan, a professor of Geological Sciences at CU Boulder and co-author of the study. “Scientists have captured larger, earthquake-induced tsunamis using ship navigation systems. Our team had equipment in the right place at the right time to show this method also works for landslide-generated tsunamis.”
On May 8, 2022, a landslide near the port city of Seward, Alaska, sent debris tumbling into Resurrection Bay, creating a series of small tsunami waves. The R/V Sikuliaq, a research ship owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, was moored 650 meters (0.4 miles) away. Luckily, it was equipped with an external Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver previously installed by Ethan Roth, the ship’s science operations manager and co-author of the study.
“I actually happened to be in Alaska at that time, retrieving seismometers from another study,” Sheehan said. “I decided to go visit the Sikuliaq, and it turned out that there had been a landslide that happened a day or two before. One of the crew members filmed it, and we were like, ‘wow,’ this is a great signal to try to find in the data.”
Extracting a Signal From the Sea
Adam Manaster, then a graduate student working in Sheehan’s geophysics research group at CIRES and CU Boulder, took the lead on the project. The research team also included scientists from the USGS and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The team used data from the ship’s external GNSS receiver and open-source software to calculate changes in the vertical position of the R/V Sikuliaq down to the centimeter level. They created a time series showing the ship’s height before, during, and after the landslide.
The researchers then compared the data to a landslide-tsunami model, which simulated the generation and movement of tsunami waves from the shoreline to the ship. Their results show that the ship’s vertical movement was consistent with the event, confirming the first detection of a landslide-generated tsunami from a ship’s satellite navigation system.
“This research proves that we can utilize ships to constrain the timing and extent of these landslide tsunami events,” Manaster said. “If we process the data fast enough, warnings can be sent out to those in the affected area so they can evacuate and get out of harm’s way.”
The work builds upon previous CIRES-led research, which demonstrated how GPS data from commercial shipping vessels could be used to improve tsunami early warning systems.
“The science shows that this approach works,” Sheehan said. “So many ships now have real-time GPS, but if we want to implement on a larger scale, we need to collaborate with the shipping industry to make the onboard data accessible to scientists.”
Reference: “Detection of Landslide-Generated Tsunami by Shipborne GNSS Precise Point Positioning” by Adam E. Manaster, Anne F. Sheehan, Dara E. Goldberg, Katherine R. Barnhart and Ethan H. Roth, 25 April 2025, Geophysical Research Letters.
DOI: 10.1029/2024GL112472
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