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.
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
The wildfire layer shows NASA FIRMS active-fire detections. Klaxon reads them through NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), which republishes the same detections as map imagery and needs no API key. That matters for a site with no backend: a key in client-side code would be public to anyone who viewed the source.
Wildfires arrive as imagery rather than individual records, so they have no popups, no timeline cards, and the magnitude filter does not apply to them. Detections appear roughly 3–12 hours after satellite overpass, so the current day fills in progressively. For per-detection attributes such as brightness and confidence, use the FIRMS data API directly.
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.