Antisana

Antisana rises in Ecuador's northern Andes about 50 kilometers southeast of Quito, on the border between Pichincha and Napo provinces, reaching an elevation of about 5,753 meters, the fourth-highest volcano in Ecuador. It is a glaciated stratovolcano whose surrounding reserve protects paramo grassland, wetlands and mountain forest, and whose meltwater and the nearby Papallacta headwaters together supply roughly 30 percent of the drinking water for Quito, with the reservoir Laguna La Mica alone serving about a quarter of the capital's population. Established as a protected area in 1993, Antisana's glaciers are retreating visibly, making the mountain one of Ecuador's clearest on-the-ground indicators of climate change. This entity documents Antisana specifically as a geological formation, a glaciated Ecuadorian stratovolcano whose meltwater supplies a large share of Quito's drinking water.