Earthquakes in Greenland through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 4 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Greenland. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.5 on March 6, 2009 (north of Svalbard).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 3 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 5.3 on October 19 (116 km WNW of Höfn, Iceland).
What the record holds
NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 1 here, back to 1945. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 5 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 3 on July 24, 1985 (Ubekendt Island). NOAA’s record here begins on December 15, 1952 with a tsunami (South Coast Of Nuussuaq, Greenland). NOAA lists 9 tsunamis that began in or off Greenland. The highest water NOAA records here was 200 m, on September 16, 2023. The deadliest, on June 17, 2017, killed 4 people here by NOAA’s runup records.
The events
- September 16, 2023Tsunami · 200 m hereDickson Fjord, GreenlandNOAA NCEI
- June 17, 2017Tsunami · 90 m hereKarrat Fjord, Greenland · 4 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- July 7, 2009Earthquake · M 6.1Baffin BayUSGS
- March 6, 2009Earthquake · M 6.5north of SvalbardUSGS
- July 24, 1985Earthquake · M 3.0Ubekendt IslandNOAA NCEI
- January 25, 1955Earthquake · M 6.0north of SvalbardUSGS
- December 15, 1952Tsunami · 2.5 m hereSouth Coast Of Nuussuaq, Greenland · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- November 8, 1945Earthquake · M 6.1near the north coast of GreenlandUSGS
Good to know
- An event counts for Greenland when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Greenland is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Greenland, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history