Data Sources
Klaxon pulls directly from primary authoritative feeds. No middleware, no rewriting, no editorial layer. This page lists every source the map relies on, organised by event type.
Klaxon fetches GeoJSON and similar structured feeds directly from each agency's public endpoint, in the user's browser. There is no Klaxon backend, no caching layer, and no transformation of the data beyond filtering by magnitude or severity. When an agency updates its feed, the map reflects it within one minute.
Earthquakes — live
The earthquake module pulls from the United States Geological Survey's public real-time feeds. USGS is the international standard for earthquake reporting; their data integrates seismic networks from dozens of countries.
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USGS — All earthquakes, past hourAll earthquakes recorded worldwide in the last hour. Used for the "1H" view.
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USGS — All earthquakes, past dayAll earthquakes recorded worldwide in the last 24 hours. Used for the "24H" view — the default.
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USGS — All earthquakes, past weekAll earthquakes recorded worldwide in the last seven days. Used for the "7D" view.
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USGS Earthquake Hazards Program — Feed documentationUSGS publishes other variants (significant only, M2.5+, M4.5+) and historical archives. If you need data beyond the live map, start here.
The tsunami hazard shows earthquakes USGS flagged for tsunami warning across a rolling 12 months. Because the summary feeds above only reach back seven days, that view queries the USGS FDSN event API with an explicit date range instead. The flag means an event met tsunami-warning criteria — it is not confirmation that a wave was observed.
Klaxon filters earthquake events client-side to magnitude 3.5 and above. Smaller events are too frequent to display globally without making the map unreadable. If you need the full feed including sub-3.5 events, use the USGS interactive map directly.
Volcanoes — live
Continuing eruptions come from NASA EONET, curated from Smithsonian GVP. Those events often keep the date they were first opened, so a volcano that erupted this morning can sit far down the list. Klaxon overlays three faster notices on top and sorts by the newest one: MAGMA / PVMBG for Indonesia, USGS HANS for the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii), and GDACS for ash-significant eruptions worldwide. An older GDACS or EONET date never replaces a newer MAGMA or HANS time.
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MAGMA Indonesia — PVMBG / Badan GeologiOfficial eruption reports from Indonesia's Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation. Klaxon reads today's notices and applies the latest time to the matching volcano.
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USGS HANS — Hazard Notification SystemElevated-alert volcanoes from the USGS observatories. Klaxon uses the notice time (not the EONET open date) so Kilauea or Great Sitkin from today sort as latest.
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GDACS — Global Disaster Alert and Coordination SystemHumanitarian volcano alerts, including eruptions EONET has not opened yet. A GDACS date is applied only when it is newer than MAGMA, HANS, or EONET for that volcano.
For earthquakes inside Japan's region, popups include a secondary link to the Japan Meteorological Agency's earthquake map. JMA reports shindo (felt-intensity) values that Japanese users typically reference instead of magnitude. The link points to JMA's general earthquake portal — Klaxon does not yet ingest JMA data directly.
Wildfires — live
Named fires come from NASA EONET. Official agency incidents are overlaid on top where a public, keyless feed exists: NSW RFS (the Fires Near Me list), VicEmergency, and large US wildfires from NIFC. Satellite heat detections still come through GIBS as a coverage layer underneath. Not every country publishes a live incident API — Western Australia's DFES feed needs a login, and Queensland's public CAD list is every vegetation callout, so those are not on the map yet.
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NSW Rural Fire Service — Fires Near MeThe official Current Incidents GeoJSON behind Fires Near Me. Klaxon keeps bush and grass fires and skips planned burns and hazard reduction.
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VicEmergency — Emergency Management VictoriaThe public VicEmergency events feed. Klaxon keeps category Fire and drops floods, rescues, and planned burns.
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NIFC WFIGS — current US wildfire incidentsAuthoritative IRWIN / WFIGS incident locations. Klaxon keeps wildfires of 1,000 acres or more so the list stays named fires, not every small start.
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NASA EONET — Earth Observatory Natural Event TrackerOpen wildfire events with a last-observation date and a source link. Klaxon sorts the list by the most recent observation. These are curated events, not every hot pixel.
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NASA GIBS — Global Imagery Browse ServicesGIBS serves FIRMS detections as map imagery. Klaxon requests the VIIRS 375 m thermal anomaly layer and falls back to MODIS 1 km if it stops resolving.
Markers and timeline cards are EONET events plus official agency incidents. The orange overlay is FIRMS heat detections, which fill in through the day about 3–12 hours after satellite overpass. The magnitude filter does not apply. Per-pixel brightness and confidence still need the FIRMS data API and a key, which Klaxon does not put in the page.
Tectonic plate boundaries — reference layer
The amber lines on the map are not events. They are static plate boundary geometries, included so the spatial pattern of seismicity is immediately legible.
Map tiles and basemap
Coming soon
These feeds are not yet wired in. Listed here so you can see what's planned and suggest alternatives if you know of better primary sources.
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NOAA Tsunami Warning SystemThe U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center and Pacific Tsunami Warning Center publish bulletins, watches, advisories, and warnings. These will drive the tsunami layer.
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NASA FIRMS — Fire Information for Resource Management SystemFIRMS distributes near-real-time active-fire data from MODIS (Aqua/Terra) and VIIRS (Suomi NPP, NOAA-20/21) satellites. The world's most comprehensive open wildfire feed.
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ACLED — Armed Conflict Location & Event Data ProjectACLED is the academic standard for conflict event tracking. Their public dashboards and curated datasets will drive the conflict layer, with a strong editorial filter on incident verification.
Know of a primary feed that should be on this list, or a better authoritative source than the ones planned? Klaxon is early — pointed suggestions are welcome. Get in touch at klaxonlive@myyahoo.com.
What Klaxon is not
Klaxon is not an official warning system. It does not issue alerts, it does not have life-safety responsibilities, and it has no privileged access to any agency. Everything on the map is information that's already public. If you need authoritative alerts for where you live or travel, sign up with your national or local emergency authority directly.
Klaxon is free and stays free — no ads, no tracking, no account. If it's useful to you and you'd like to help cover running costs, there's a Buy Me a Coffee link. Entirely optional. Thanks either way.