USGS Earthquake Monitor

Fetch real-time and historical earthquake data from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program. This actor queries the USGS FDSNWS earthquake catalog API, covering seismic events globally with data updated every 60 seconds.

Features

• Filter earthquakes by minimum and maximum magnitude
• Search within geographic bounding boxes (lat/lon)
• Query by time range using ISO 8601 dates
• Configurable result limit up to 20,000 per query
• Returns full seismic metadata: depth, significance, tsunami flags, and felt reports
• Pure HTTP — no browser, no scraping, no auth required

Use Cases

• Insurance Risk Assessment: Evaluate seismic exposure for properties and portfolios in earthquake-prone regions. Pull M4.0+ events over the last decade to model recurrence intervals.
• Disaster Response: Feed live earthquake data into alerting dashboards. Emergency management teams can monitor magnitude spikes in real time.
• Real Estate Due Diligence: Screen locations for historical earthquake activity before acquisitions or developments.
• Academic Research: Access the authoritative USGS earthquake catalog for seismology studies, tectonic modeling, or statistical analysis.
• Monitoring Dashboards: Build live earthquake maps and notification systems using the real-time feed.

Input

Field	Type	Description	Default
minMagnitude	number	Minimum earthquake magnitude	2.5
maxMagnitude	number	Maximum earthquake magnitude	—
startTime	string	Start time (ISO 8601, e.g. 2024-01-15T00:00:00)	—
endTime	string	End time (ISO 8601)	—
minLatitude	number	Minimum latitude for bounding box	—
maxLatitude	number	Maximum latitude for bounding box	—
minLongitude	number	Minimum longitude for bounding box	—
maxLongitude	number	Maximum longitude for bounding box	—
limit	number	Maximum number of results to return	100

Output

Example result:

{
  "id": "us7000m0xj",
  "magnitude": 5.2,
  "place": "34 km SSW of Hakkari, Turkey",
  "time": 1705324800000,
  "updated": 1705330000000,
  "longitude": 43.72,
  "latitude": 37.48,
  "depth": 10.5,
  "felt": 42,
  "cdi": 5.0,
  "mmi": 4.8,
  "alert": "green",
  "status": "reviewed",
  "tsunami": 0,
  "sig": 416,
  "net": "us",
  "code": "7000m0xj",
  "nst": 128,
  "dmin": 0.82,
  "rms": 0.65,
  "gap": 32,
  "magType": "mww",
  "type": "earthquake",
  "title": "M 5.2 - 34 km SSW of Hakkari, Turkey"
}

Field	Type	Description
id	string	Unique USGS event identifier
magnitude	number	Earthquake magnitude
place	string	Human-readable location description
time	number	Event time (epoch milliseconds)
updated	number	Last update time (epoch milliseconds)
longitude	number	Epicenter longitude
latitude	number	Epicenter latitude
depth	number	Focal depth in kilometers
felt	number	Number of felt reports submitted
cdi	number	Community Determined Intensity
mmi	number	Modified Mercalli Intensity
alert	string	PAGER alert level (green/yellow/orange/red)
status	string	Review status (automatic/reviewed)
tsunami	number	Tsunami warning flag (1=yes, 0=no)
sig	number	Significance score
net	string	Reporting seismic network
code	string	Network-specific event code
nst	number	Number of stations reporting
dmin	number	Distance to nearest station (degrees)
rms	number	Root mean square travel time residual
gap	number	Largest azimuthal gap (degrees)
magType	string	Magnitude type (mww, mb, ml, etc.)
type	string	Event type (earthquake, quarry blast, etc.)
title	string	Short title for the event

Pricing

$1.00 per 1,000 results ($0.001 per result).

How It Works

This actor makes direct HTTP requests to the USGS FDSNWS earthquake API at earthquake.usgs.gov. No browser automation, no authentication, no scraping. The USGS provides this data as a public service with no rate limiting — the API is designed for machine-to-machine consumption and updates every 60 seconds.

FAQ

What time format should I use? ISO 8601: 2024-01-15T00:00:00 or 2024-01-15. If you omit the time portion, the API defaults to midnight UTC.

What is the maximum number of results? 20,000 per query. For larger historical datasets, split your queries into smaller time windows.

How fresh is the data? The USGS catalog updates approximately every 60 seconds. Minor events may take 5-15 minutes to appear; significant earthquakes appear within 1-2 minutes.

What geographic coverage does this include? Global. The USGS earthquake catalog covers seismic events worldwide, not just the United States.

Limits & Rate Limits

• Maximum 20,000 results per query
• USGS does not enforce rate limits, but extremely high request volumes may result in temporary throttling
• Large bounding box + low magnitude queries can return massive datasets — use the limit parameter to stay manageable
• Data availability varies by region; US coverage is the most comprehensive