The Honshu, Japan tsunami was generated by a Mw 7.1 earthquake (37.156°N 144.661°E), 2013-10-25 17:10:19 UTC, 326km (203mi) E of Namie, Japan (according to the USGS). In approximately 15 minutes, a 2-cm leading depression of the tsunami was first recorded by the Japanese-owned tsunameter/DART® buoy 21348. Forecast results shown below were created with the NOAA forecast method using MOST model with the tsunami source inferred from tsunameter/DART® data.

The graphics display research forecast results, showing qualitative and quantitative information about the tsunami, including tsunami wave interaction with ocean floor bathymetric features, and neighboring coastlines. Tsunami model amplitude information is shown color-coded according to the scale bar. Offshore tsunami wave amplitude was estimated based on actual tsunami observations at DARTs 21418 and 21348 and was not based on any particular earthquake mechanism.

• Site map shows the location of the earthquake and tsunami source of the Honshu event. The yellow triangles are locations of DART stations in the northwest of Pacific. 21346, 21347 and 21348 are Japanese-owned DART stations. 21418, 21419 and 21413 are US-owned DART stations. 21401 is a Russian-owned DART station. The orange circles are the locations of tide gauges along Japan’s East Coast that are used for model/data comparison. The purple box indicates the tsunami source (lower-left inset) obtained from the data inversion.
• Model amplitudes calculated with the MOST forecast model. Filled colors show maximum computed tsunami amplitude in cm during 24 hours of wave propagation.
• Propagation animation and .mov file.