GeoNet NZ Volcano Alerts Scraper

GeoNet NZ Volcano Alerts Scraper

Scrape real-time volcano alert bulletins and alert levels from GeoNet, New Zealand's official geological hazard monitoring service. Every record includes the volcano name, current alert level, activity status, and the full bulletin text. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

GeoNet's public website and data feeds are the authoritative source for volcanic activity in New Zealand, but they are designed for manual browsing, not bulk analysis. This actor reads the official volcano alert data directly, filters it by minimum alert level, and returns a structured dataset ready for monitoring dashboards, risk assessment, or historical logging.

Who uses it	What they scrape GeoNet for
Emergency managers	Monitoring alert level changes across multiple volcanoes for public safety decisions.
Geoscience researchers	Building a time-series dataset of volcanic activity and alert level transitions.
Travel and tourism operators	Checking current volcanic activity status before running tours near volcanic zones.
Data journalists	Tracking alert level trends to report on New Zealand's volcanic risk landscape.

What it does

This actor collects current volcano alert bulletins from GeoNet and returns each volcano as a flat row with its alert level, activity status, and advisory text.

• 🌋 Alert level filtering: set a minimum alert level from 0 to 5 and receive only volcanoes at or above that threshold.
• 📊 Structured output: each volcano row includes the volcano name, alert level, activity status, and the full bulletin text in a fixed schema.
• ⚡ Real-time data: pulls the latest published alerts directly from GeoNet's live feed on every run.
• 📦 Bulk collection: paid users can pull up to a million records, suitable for historical logging or frequent polling.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with GeoNet data

🚨 Build a volcano monitoring dashboard.

An emergency management team runs this actor every 15 minutes, filters for alert level 2 and above, and pipes the results into a Slack channel and a GIS dashboard showing which volcanoes need attention.

📈 Log alert level history for research.

A volcanology PhD student runs the actor daily with no minimum level filter, appends the results to a database, and analyses how alert levels at Ruapehu and White Island have changed over two years.

✈️ Check volcanic risk before flight operations.

An airline operations centre runs the actor before each shift, filtering for alert level 1 and above, and cross-references active volcanoes with flight paths to assess ash cloud risk.

📰 Feed volcanic activity into a newsroom alert system.

A data journalist at a New Zealand news outlet schedules the actor hourly, watches for alert level changes, and triggers a breaking-news workflow when a volcano moves from level 1 to level 2 or higher.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Official source	Data comes directly from GeoNet, the government agency responsible for monitoring New Zealand's volcanoes.
No API key needed	Reads the public data feed without registration, OAuth, or rate-limit headaches.
Fixed schema	Every run returns the same columns: volcano name, alert level, activity status, and bulletin text.
Filter at source	The minimum alert level filter discards low-level volcanoes before they enter your dataset, saving compute and storage.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets GeoNet the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	GeoNet NZ Volcano Alerts Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When GeoNet changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the actor by setting a minimum alert level from 0 to 5, and the filter runs as each volcano is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10,
 "minLevel": 0
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200,
 "minLevel": 0
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.002 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.20
1,000 results	$2.00
10,000 results	$20.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the GeoNet NZ Volcano Alerts Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to GeoNet through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/geonet-nz-volcano-alerts-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check your minimum alert level filter. If you set it to 3 and no volcano is currently at level 3 or above, the actor returns an empty dataset. Try lowering the minimum level to 0 to see all monitored volcanoes.

The actor returns fewer volcanoes than I expected.

GeoNet only publishes alerts for volcanoes it actively monitors. Some volcanic fields may be grouped under one entry. Also confirm your minimum alert level filter is not excluding volcanoes at lower levels.

I hit the free-user limit of 10 records.

Free Apify accounts are capped at 10 volcano alerts per run as a preview. Upgrade to a paid plan to raise the limit up to 1,000,000 records and run the actor at full capacity.

The bulletin text is empty for some volcanoes.

GeoNet does not always publish a detailed bulletin for every volcano, especially those at alert level 0 with no unrest. An empty bulletin field means GeoNet has not issued a specific advisory for that volcano at this time.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What data does this actor return for each volcano?	Each row contains the volcano name, the current alert level (0 to 5), the activity status description, and the full text of the latest advisory bulletin published by GeoNet.
How often is the GeoNet volcano alert data updated?	GeoNet updates its volcano alert bulletins whenever volcanic activity changes or a new assessment is made. The actor pulls the latest published data on every run, so scheduling it frequently gives you near-real-time monitoring.
Can I filter to only see volcanoes at alert level 2 or higher?	Yes. Set the minimum alert level input to 2, and the actor will return only volcanoes currently at alert level 2, 3, 4, or 5. Volcanoes at level 0 or 1 are discarded before they reach your dataset.
Does this cover all New Zealand volcanoes?	The actor returns every volcano that GeoNet actively monitors and publishes alerts for, including Ruapehu, White Island (Whakaari), Tongariro, and the Auckland Volcanic Field, among others.
Do I need an API key or login to use this?	No. The actor reads GeoNet's public data feeds, which require no registration, no API key, and no authentication. You can start scraping immediately.
What is the alert level scale?	GeoNet uses a 0-to-5 scale: 0 means no volcanic unrest, 1 through 2 indicate minor to moderate unrest, 3 is a minor eruption, 4 a moderate eruption, and 5 a major eruption. The bulletin text gives the detailed justification.
Can I get historical alert data, or only the current status?	Each run returns the current alert status at the time of the run. To build a historical record, schedule the actor to run regularly and store the results. The actor does not backfill past alert levels.
How many volcanoes can I scrape in one run?	Free users are limited to 10 volcano alerts per run as a preview. Paid Apify users can set the maximum up to 1,000,000 records, which covers all monitored volcanoes many times over.

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🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by GNS Science. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.