Florida's statewide air quality monitoring network is operated by both state and local environmental programs.  The air is monitored for carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter and sulfur dioxide.  The monitors tend to be concentrated in areas with the largest population densities.  Not all pollutants are monitored in all areas.

The department's Florida's Air Quality System provides the public and units of local, state, and federal government with measurements of pollutant concentration levels in the ambient air – ambient air being generally defined as that portion of the atmosphere near ground level and external to buildings or other structures.

Ambient air quality standards, defined as levels below health standards, have been established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for six pollutants: carbon monoxide (CO), lead (Pb), nitrogen dioxide  (NO₂), ozone (O₃), particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide (SO₂).

Since health-based criteria have been used to establish the standards, these six pollutants are referred to as “criteria air pollutants.”

An essential component of air quality management in the state is the identification of (1) areas where the ambient air quality standards are being violated and plans are needed to reduce pollutant concentration levels to be in attainment with the standards and (2) areas where the ambient standards are being met but plans are needed to ensure maintenance of acceptable levels of air quality in the face of anticipated population or industrial growth.

The end-result of this attainment/maintenance analysis is the development of local and statewide strategies for controlling emissions of criteria air pollutants from stationary and mobile sources.  The first step in this process is the annual compilation of the ambient air monitoring results, and the second step is the analysis of the monitoring data for general air quality, exceedances of air quality standards, and pollutant trends.