In October 2006, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) adopted a nationwide alert system for characterizing the level of unrest and eruptive activity at volcanoes. The system is now used by the Alaska Volcano Observatory, the California Volcano Observatory (California and Nevada), the Cascades Volcano Observatory (Washington, Oregon and Idaho), the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona).

Under this system, the USGS ranks the level of activity at a U.S. volcano using the terms "normal", for typical volcanic activity in a non-eruptive phase; "advisory", for elevated unrest; "watch", for escalating unrest or an eruption underway that poses limited hazards; and, "warning", if a highly hazardous eruption is underway or imminent. These levels reflect conditions at a volcano and the expected or ongoing hazardous volcanic phenomena. When an alert level is assigned by an observatory, accompanying text will give a fuller explanation of the observed phenomena and clarify hazard implications to affected groups.