🌋 USGS Volcano Alerts Scraper

🚀 Track every monitored U.S. volcano in seconds. Pull live alert levels, aviation color codes, and notices for all 69 volcanoes watched by the USGS Volcano Hazards Program.

🕒 Last updated: 2026-06-05 · 📊 19 fields per record · 5 USGS observatories · Alaska, Cascades, California, Hawaii, and Yellowstone

The USGS Volcano Alerts Scraper reads directly from the USGS Hazard Notification System (HANS) public API and returns a clean, structured record for each monitored volcano. Every record carries the current Volcano Alert Level (NORMAL, ADVISORY, WATCH, WARNING), the Aviation Color Code (GREEN, YELLOW, ORANGE, RED), the responsible observatory, the latest notice, and precise geographic coordinates.

Coverage spans all five U.S. volcano observatories: Alaska (AVO), Cascades (CVO), California (CalVO), Hawaii (HVO), and Yellowstone (YVO). Choose between the full monitored list or only the volcanoes currently at an elevated alert, and optionally narrow results to a single observatory.

🎯 Target Audience	💡 Primary Use Cases
Aviation dispatchers and flight planners	Monitor aviation color codes along flight paths
Emergency managers and researchers	Track alert level changes across regions
Journalists and data teams	Build dashboards and trigger alert notifications
Geoscience educators and hobbyists	Map active volcanoes with live status

📋 What the USGS Volcano Alerts Scraper does

• Reads the USGS HANS public API for volcano alert and notice data.
• Returns the full monitored list (always 5 or more records) or only elevated volcanoes.
• Maps each volcano to its Volcano Alert Level and Aviation Color Code.
• Enriches every record with region, latitude, longitude, and summit elevation.
• Resolves the latest notice type, identifier, sent timestamp, and notice link.
• Lets you filter to a single observatory (AVO, CVO, CalVO, HVO, YVO).

🎬 Full Demo (🚧 Coming soon)

⚙️ Input

Field	Type	Description
mode	select	all returns the full monitored list (5 or more records). elevated returns only volcanoes at an elevated alert. Default all.
observatory	select	Limit results to one observatory (avo, calvo, cvo, hvo, yvo). Leave blank for all.
maxItems	integer	Free users limited to 10 items. Paid users up to 1,000,000.

Example 1 — all monitored volcanoes:

{
  "mode": "all",
  "maxItems": 10
}

Example 2 — only elevated volcanoes in Alaska:

{
  "mode": "elevated",
  "observatory": "avo",
  "maxItems": 50
}

⚠️ Good to Know: On calm days the elevated list can have fewer than 5 volcanoes. Use mode: all (the default) to always receive the complete monitored list, where quiet volcanoes are reported as NORMAL / GREEN.

📊 Output

Each record contains the following fields.

Field	Description
🌋 volcanoName	Volcano name
🆔 vnum	USGS volcano number (VNUM)
🏛 observatory	Full observatory name
🔡 observatoryCode	Observatory abbreviation
🚨 alertLevel	Volcano Alert Level (NORMAL, ADVISORY, WATCH, WARNING)
✈️ aviationColorCode	Aviation Color Code (GREEN, YELLOW, ORANGE, RED)
🗺 region	Geographic region
📍 latitude	Latitude
📍 longitude	Longitude
⛰ elevationMeters	Summit elevation in meters
📰 noticeType	Human readable notice type
🔤 noticeTypeCode	Notice type code
🧾 noticeIdentifier	Notice identifier
🕒 sentUtc	Notice sent timestamp (UTC)
⏱ sentUnixtime	Notice sent Unix timestamp
🔗 noticeUrl	Link to the full notice
🌐 volcanoUrl	Link to the volcano information page
🕒 scrapedAt	Collection timestamp
❌ error	Error message, null on success

Sample records (real output):

{
  "volcanoName": "Akutan",
  "vnum": "311320",
  "observatory": "Alaska Volcano Observatory",
  "observatoryCode": "avo",
  "alertLevel": "NORMAL",
  "aviationColorCode": "GREEN",
  "region": "Aleutians",
  "latitude": 54.13308,
  "longitude": -165.98555,
  "elevationMeters": 1303,
  "noticeType": "Information Statement",
  "noticeTypeCode": "IS",
  "noticeIdentifier": "DOI-USGS-AVO-2019-09-04T15:47:55-08:00",
  "sentUtc": "2019-09-06 18:29:39",
  "sentUnixtime": 1567794579,
  "noticeUrl": "https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hans-public/notice/DOI-USGS-AVO-2019-09-04T15:47:55-08:00",
  "volcanoUrl": "https://avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/volcinfo.php?volcname=Akutan",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-05T17:25:58.055Z",
  "error": null
}

{
  "volcanoName": "Aniakchak",
  "vnum": "312090",
  "observatory": "Alaska Volcano Observatory",
  "observatoryCode": "avo",
  "alertLevel": "NORMAL",
  "aviationColorCode": "GREEN",
  "region": "Alaska Peninsula",
  "latitude": 56.9058,
  "longitude": -158.209,
  "elevationMeters": 1341,
  "noticeType": "Information Statement",
  "noticeTypeCode": "IS",
  "noticeIdentifier": "DOI-USGS-AVO-2026-05-05T20:15:40+00:00",
  "sentUtc": "2026-05-05 22:31:29",
  "sentUnixtime": 1778020289,
  "noticeUrl": "https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hans-public/notice/DOI-USGS-AVO-2026-05-05T20:15:40+00:00",
  "volcanoUrl": "https://avo.alaska.edu/activity/Aniakchak.php",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-05T17:25:58.260Z",
  "error": null
}

{
  "volcanoName": "Great Sitkin",
  "vnum": "311120",
  "observatory": "Alaska Volcano Observatory",
  "observatoryCode": "avo",
  "alertLevel": "WATCH",
  "aviationColorCode": "ORANGE",
  "region": "Aleutians",
  "latitude": 52.0765,
  "longitude": -176.1109,
  "elevationMeters": 1740,
  "noticeType": "Daily Update",
  "noticeTypeCode": "DU",
  "noticeIdentifier": "DOI-USGS-AVO-2026-06-04T19:17:45+00:00",
  "sentUtc": "2026-06-04 19:24:56",
  "sentUnixtime": 1780601096,
  "noticeUrl": "https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hans-public/notice/DOI-USGS-AVO-2026-06-04T19:17:45+00:00",
  "volcanoUrl": "https://avo.alaska.edu/volcano/great-sitkin",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-05T17:25:58.500Z",
  "error": null
}

✨ Why choose this Actor

• Reads the official USGS HANS public source, no scraping of fragile HTML.
• Always returns at least 5 records in the default mode, even on quiet days.
• Pairs each alert with exact coordinates and summit elevation.
• Both the Volcano Alert Level and the Aviation Color Code in one record.
• Simple inputs, predictable structure, ready for dashboards and automations.

📈 How it compares to alternatives

Approach	Alert Level	Aviation Color	Coordinates	Latest Notice
This Actor	✅	✅	✅	✅
Manual website checks	✅	✅	partial	manual
Generic RSS readers	partial	partial	❌	✅

🚀 How to use

1. Sign up for a free Apify account.
2. Open the USGS Volcano Alerts Scraper.
3. Pick a mode (all or elevated) and an optional observatory.
4. Set maxItems and click Start.
5. Collect your structured volcano alert records when the run finishes.

💼 Business use cases

Aviation safety

Need	How this helps
Avoid ash hazards	Track Aviation Color Codes along routes
Route planning	Map elevated volcanoes by coordinates

Emergency management

Need	How this helps
Situational awareness	Monitor alert level changes by region
Public alerting	Trigger notifications on WATCH or WARNING

Media and journalism

Need	How this helps
Breaking coverage	Detect new notices as they post
Context	Pull notice links and summaries

Research and analytics

Need	How this helps
Trend tracking	Build a time series of alert states
Geospatial work	Use coordinates and elevation directly

🔌 Automating USGS Volcano Alerts Scraper

Connect this Actor to Make, Zapier, Slack, Airbyte, GitHub, or Google Drive to push fresh volcano alerts into your workflows. Schedule recurring runs and route elevated alerts to the channels your team already uses.

🌟 Beyond business use cases

• Research: assemble datasets of historical alert states for study.
• Personal: keep an eye on volcanoes near places you care about.
• Non-profit: support community preparedness and education.
• Experimentation: prototype geospatial maps and alerting bots.

🤖 Ask an AI assistant

Ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Microsoft Copilot to summarize which volcanoes are currently at WATCH or WARNING from this Actor's output.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Which volcanoes are covered? All volcanoes monitored by the five USGS volcano observatories, currently 69 records.

What is the difference between alert level and aviation color code? The Volcano Alert Level describes ground hazards. The Aviation Color Code describes hazards to aircraft from ash.

Why does the elevated mode sometimes return fewer than 5 records? Because few volcanoes are elevated on calm days. Use mode: all for the complete list.

Where does the data come from? The USGS Hazard Notification System (HANS) public API.

Can I filter by observatory? Yes, set observatory to avo, calvo, cvo, hvo, or yvo.

Are coordinates included? Yes, latitude, longitude, and summit elevation are included for each volcano with a VNUM.

How fresh is the data? Each run reads the current state of the HANS API at run time.

What does the notice link contain? The full official notice published by the responsible observatory.

Is a NORMAL volcano still useful? Yes, a baseline of NORMAL states is valuable for trend tracking and mapping.

Can I schedule runs? Yes, use Apify scheduling to run this Actor on a recurring basis.

🔌 Integrate with any app

Use the Apify API and integrations to send results to your database, spreadsheet, or messaging tools, or to trigger downstream actions on alert changes.

🔗 Recommended Actors

• ParseForge collection for more government and open data scrapers.
• Explore additional hazard, weather, and geoscience Actors on the ParseForge profile.

💡 Pro Tip: browse the complete ParseForge collection.

🆘 Need Help? Open our contact form

⚠️ Disclaimer: independent tool, not affiliated with the USGS. Only publicly available data collected.