Volcano Watch Screensaver
The Volcano Watch screensaver is a world map of currently erupting and restless volcanoes, pulsing at their locations with name, elevation and activity, from the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program via Afterglow's pipeline. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
How the Volcano Watch screensaver works
A background pipeline pulls the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program's volcano list and keeps those active in recent years, saving a small snapshot file.
The saver plots each volcano on a world map as a pulsing triangle with a warm heat glow, larger for the most active.
Notable volcanoes are labelled, and a ticker reads off names, countries and activity status.
The snapshot refreshes periodically so the map reflects current activity.
A worked example
Heat-glowing markers pulse along the Ring of Fire and beyond — Etna · Italy · Erupting, Kilauea · USA, Stromboli — the ticker naming each one while the brightest mark the volcanoes most recently active.
Settings & tips
- Glow color sets the heat color of the markers.
- Background sets the map backdrop.
- Run
automation/run.py volcanoon your pipeline machine to refresh the snapshot.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this real volcano data?
- Yes. It's from the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program, filtered to volcanoes active in recent years, refreshed on a schedule.
- Does “erupting” mean right this second?
- It means activity in the current period per the Smithsonian record; the map highlights recently and currently active volcanoes, not a live eruption camera.
- Why does it use a pipeline?
- The Smithsonian feed isn't readable directly from a browser, so a small background script fetches it and saves a snapshot the saver loads.
- Does it need a key?
- No keys anywhere — the source is free and the saver just reads the saved snapshot.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.