Tsunami warning issued for Lord Howe Island after earthquake near New Caledonia

No evacuations are currently required at Lord Howe Island and no impact is expected for the Australian mainland (Photo: Mridula Amin)

A tsunami marine warning has been issued for Lord Howe Island, after a magnitude-7.6 earthquake near New Caledonia overnight.

A tsunami marine warning means there is the possibility for dangerous rips, waves and strong ocean currents and some localised impact on immediate foreshores.

People on Lord Howe Island have been advised to stay away from the island's beach and the immediate water's edge.

No evacuations are required at Lord Howe Island and no impact is expected for the Australian mainland.

Some tsunami waves of under 40 centimetres have been observed at Norfolk Island, Port Villa and Fiji.

The earthquake occurred just after midnight on Wednesday in an area south-east of the Loyalty Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

© Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.

Comments

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 6:21am

More reading on tsunamis we've published over the years (apologies TBB):

(2012) Tsunami: Approaching the Speed of Sound
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2012/04/12/tsunami-appro...

(2014) Tsunami '77
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2014/09/24/tsunami-77

(2015) Tsunamis: In preparation for the big one
https://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2015/12/22/tsunamis-preparatio...

(2015) Behind Australia's tsunami detection buoys
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-analysis/2015/11/05/behind-austra...

(2016) A new way to detect tsunamis: cargo ships
https://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2016/04/04/new-way-detect-tsun...

(2016) Felipe Pomar: On winning world titles, riding tsunami, and surfing until 100
https://www.swellnet.com/news/talking-heads/2016/03/31/felipe-pomar-winn...

(2018) What would happen if a tsunami hit Sydney?
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-analysis/2018/10/16/what-would-ha...

(2019) Watch: The O'Riginals // G'Land Tsunami
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2019/11/26/watch-the-ori...

(2019) Queensland tsunami modelling shows how coastal communities will be impacted
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2019/07/28/queensland-ts...

nextswell's picture
nextswell's picture
nextswell Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 6:51am

Haven’t seen a thorough analysis from tbb in the comments for a while - hope all is well. Good luck to those on Lord Howe.

the_b's picture
the_b's picture
the_b Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 7:14am

It's been picked up on the MHL tide gauges. https://mhl.nsw.gov.au/Station-201472

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 7:29am

Well spotted!
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Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 8:10am

Checked the harbour for signs, not much to see except it's a cracker morning!

sangsta's picture
sangsta's picture
sangsta Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 10:42am

Nice one Craig. How's the water clarity in the harbour at the moment!!! Had a dip at Manly on Tuesday and it was awesome. Looks like Fairlight same. Enjoy

Spuddups's picture
Spuddups's picture
Spuddups Friday, 12 Feb 2021 at 6:24am

How's the serenity.

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Friday, 12 Feb 2021 at 6:40am

Yeah and smack bang in the middle of Sydney! Special.

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 9:17am

Interesting - according to the BOM, 35cm tsunami waves were recorded along the Gold Coast this morning (with smaller tsunami waves recorded elsewhere along the NSW coast), but this is below the marine warning threshold of 40cm.

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 9:20am

For the record, I'm somewhat perplexed that the BOM didn't issue any kind of notice for mainland Australia. Even small tsunami waves (35cm) will create noticeable disturbances/currents/rips in the nearshore region, some of which could be dangerous for swimmers, surfers and beachgoers.

brandonrooney14's picture
brandonrooney14's picture
brandonrooney14 Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 12:01pm

I'll say that there was just a bit of a funny vibe in the air this morning despite the fact that it was an absolute cracker of a start (Goldy based, myself). Just had an eeriness about it. Dunno if anyone else picked up on that or if I really was canine in a past life...?

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 12:02pm

Woof!

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 12:04pm

Seriously though, I know what you mean - my daily scope along the Tweed felt a little weird too, and there seemed to be a disprortionate amount of water moving through a couple of creeks. And that was before I got the tide gauge data above too (so, I wasn't aware that it'd been detected on the mainland).

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 9:27am

Tweed Sand Bypass Jetty and Gold Coast Seaway tide gauges showing the tsunami well.

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shortenism's picture
shortenism's picture
shortenism Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 10:12am

And the depth = 10.0km

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 10:23am

Eh? A bunch at 10km, and other depths in the same region too - 33km, 83km, 44km, 34km, 37km, 61km, 53km, 74km, 38km, and so on.

Not every facet of life requires conspirital thinking. 

shortenism's picture
shortenism's picture
shortenism Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 10:28am

Agree. But some facets require critical thinking.

truebluebasher's picture
truebluebasher's picture
truebluebasher Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 11:26am

tbb is humbled by Tsunami sized Timeline...Salute Ben #1 swellnet

Ben shall be awarded the honorary Norfolk Island Tsunami escape Pod.

"Being made to Listen to State of Origin on the car radio made Bill fall asleep"
No! No! No! not Raspy Bill's version...
Sorry 'bout that, as [f] banned the more ferocious sounding title.

{The lightning lashed '09 Tsunami Evacuation of Lord Howe Island lagoon foreshore}

As told by the raspy husk of Bill's Norfolk Island '09 Tsunami escape Pod.
https://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2628100.htm

Lord Howe acting CEO : "The evacuation ran smoothly!"
Last word from raspy Bill : "Bit Haphazard I thought!"

PS:
Bill was knighted for twiddling his car radio waves that fine tuned the Oz Tsunami.

Cacadajy's picture
Cacadajy's picture
Cacadajy Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 1:01pm

TBB, good to see you back. Have been missing delving down rabbit holes when you post.

frog's picture
frog's picture
frog Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 6:58pm

The collated posts of TBB would be quite an important historical document.

frog's picture
frog's picture
frog Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 12:41pm

Anyone catch the 35cm monster?

The MIDdleman.'s picture
The MIDdleman.'s picture
The MIDdleman. Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 3:25pm

We would take it on the mid atm.
No jokes.

Jd13's picture
Jd13's picture
Jd13 Thursday, 11 Feb 2021 at 6:58pm

The waves in Vicco were about 10cm today so a 35cm tsunami would be the best waves we have had for a while at least it might of has a bit of push

caml's picture
caml's picture
caml Friday, 12 Feb 2021 at 2:58pm

excellent !
Saw it happen up exmouth that boxing day

zenagain's picture
zenagain's picture
zenagain Sunday, 14 Feb 2021 at 2:00am

Might not make the news down there but about 15 mins ago we just had a really big earthquake, stuff falling off shelves etc. A couple of decent aftershocks as well.

7.1 Magnitude according to JMA, off the coast of Fukushima @ 60 km deep- so a real shaker here in Ibaraki.

Anyway, just chucked this us as a matter of interest.

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Sunday, 14 Feb 2021 at 6:41am

Oh wow, that is solid, any tsunami action?

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Sunday, 14 Feb 2021 at 6:42am

Also that'd be catastrophic in the mountains eh, setting off all kind of avalanches and land slides?

zenagain's picture
zenagain's picture
zenagain Sunday, 14 Feb 2021 at 10:22am

Morning, nope no tsunami and I reckon you'd be correct regards the mountains.

Walked around the house this morning straightening things up, putting stuff back on shelves.

We're used to quakes but when the big ones ramp up it's like, woah is this gonna go next level like 2011. But last night peaked then dropped off pretty quickly. Still, pretty scary though.

bluediamond's picture
bluediamond's picture
bluediamond Sunday, 14 Feb 2021 at 10:25am

Glad you're all good there Zen

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Sunday, 14 Feb 2021 at 10:49am

Second that.

zenagain's picture
zenagain's picture
zenagain Sunday, 14 Feb 2021 at 2:44pm

Cheers guys.

Reports of 100 people injured, no deaths, fair bit of damage and about 50 metres of expressway to north torn away with a landslide, so that will be closed for a week or so. JMA calling it the biggest since April 2011.

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Sunday, 14 Feb 2021 at 2:52pm
bbbird's picture
bbbird's picture
bbbird Sunday, 14 Feb 2021 at 4:43pm

Was in Apia Samoa when they had a Tsunami drill for Upolu. The loudspeakers sirens blared & locals advised everyone go uphill eg. up to the hospital area.
There was no mobile reception on the southcoast of Upolu ...where the Tsunami hit hard (20-40ft) in 2009 . The local church is still on the hill; nothing was left standing at sealevel except trees & coconut palms.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/The_remains_of_Lalom...
I now understand the old indo's fear of the sea.