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Abstract
The explosion of the ammunition ship Mont Blanc in Halifax Harbor produced a strong tsunami locally. There was not an operational tide gauge at the time to document the changes in sea level, but there are several narrative reports of extreme high and low water. In this study we examine the tsunami by looking at integrating three different aspects. We have collected narrative reports to see what quantitative information might be obtained from them. We have estimated the height of the initial mound of water that would be produced from an explosion of 2.9 kilotons in the harbor narrows where the Mont Blanc grounded. Finally, we have formulated a numerical model to follow the progress of the wave through the harbor, into Bedford Basin and out toward the Atlantic Ocean. Various analytical, empirical, and numerical models on explosion‐generated waves provide an estimate for the tsunami amplitude as a function of the explosive charge and limited by the water depth. For the Halifax explosion, the tsunami elevation would have been limited to a maximum amplitude of approximately 16 m. The results of our model computations indicate that there was a significant wave in the narrows, but in the outer harbor and Bedford Basin the wave was less than 3 m high. The remnants of the wave exiting the harbor to the North Atlantic were so small that they would only be detectable with careful observations.