Metropolitan Air Quality Monitoring Network (REMMAQ)

Nine stations have graded Quito's air for years — 98% of 2021 days came out fine. The 2024 wildfire smoke was the real test: readings helped push classes online, but only by officials' decision. No reading here triggers anything by itself.

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The Secretaría de Ambiente runs the Red Metropolitana de Monitoreo Atmosférico de Quito: nine automatic stations across the metropolitan district — from Carapungo and Cotocollao to the Los Chillos and Tumbaco valleys — measuring CO, SO2, NO2, ozone and particulate matter (PM10/PM2.5) and reporting continuously against the Índice Quiteño de Calidad del Aire. Its meteorological feeds are folded into the national Inamhi system to World Meteorological Organization standards, and international aggregators credit the network as Quito's real ground-station source. The operator reports over 90% valid data, and rated 98% of 2021 days 'desirable' or 'acceptable'. No IQCA category automatically triggers anything: when smoke from a wave of wildfires — 299 fires between July and late September 2024 — blanketed the city, it took ad-hoc decisions by authorities to move classes online and advise residents to stay indoors.