Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS in Americas

Americas: Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS was 220,003 1000 ha in 2024. ▼ Falling

Latest (2024)
220,003 1000 ha
Change on year
up 27.9%
Rank
2nd
of 26 groups
All-time high
224,828 1000 ha
in 2001
All-time low
172,012 1000 ha
in 2023
Years of data
24
2001–2024

Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS in Americas, 2001–2024

050.0k100.0k150.0k200.0k2001201220242001: 224.8k 1000 ha2002: 219.4k 1000 ha2003: 218.8k 1000 ha2004: 224.0k 1000 ha2005: 222.8k 1000 ha2006: 221.9k 1000 ha2007: 221.3k 1000 ha2008: 221.9k 1000 ha2009: 222.9k 1000 ha2010: 220.9k 1000 ha2011: 220.8k 1000 ha2012: 219.7k 1000 ha2013: 221.2k 1000 ha2014: 220.9k 1000 ha2015: 219.2k 1000 ha2016: 218.6k 1000 ha2017: 221.8k 1000 ha2018: 224.2k 1000 ha2019: 222.1k 1000 ha2020: 220.4k 1000 ha2021: 221.1k 1000 ha2022: 220.4k 1000 ha2023: 172.0k 1000 ha2024: 220.0k 1000 ha

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in 1000 ha.

Analysis

In 2024, permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Americas stood at 220,003 1000 ha.

That represents a change of up 27.9% on the previous year and down 0.4% over ten years.

Over the whole period, permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Americas peaked at 224,828 1000 ha in 2001 and was at its lowest, 172,012 1000 ha, in 2023.

That places Americas 2nd out of 26 groups with data for 2024, putting it in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 24 years of available data.

Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS in Americas, year by year

Annual values for Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS in Americas, 2001 to 2024.
Year 1000 ha Change
2001 224,828 1000 ha —
2002 219,401 1000 ha -2.4%
2003 218,806 1000 ha -0.3%
2004 223,982 1000 ha +2.4%
2005 222,819 1000 ha -0.5%
2006 221,905 1000 ha -0.4%
2007 221,278 1000 ha -0.3%
2008 221,860 1000 ha +0.3%
2009 222,895 1000 ha +0.5%
2010 220,949 1000 ha -0.9%
2011 220,769 1000 ha -0.1%
2012 219,688 1000 ha -0.5%
2013 221,160 1000 ha +0.7%
2014 220,860 1000 ha -0.1%
2015 219,201 1000 ha -0.8%
2016 218,633 1000 ha -0.3%
2017 221,761 1000 ha +1.4%
2018 224,165 1000 ha +1.1%
2019 222,098 1000 ha -0.9%
2020 220,380 1000 ha -0.8%
2021 221,099 1000 ha +0.3%
2022 220,384 1000 ha -0.3%
2023 172,012 1000 ha -21.9%
2024 220,003 1000 ha +27.9%

Biggest year-on-year movements

Years where Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS in Americas changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.

YearChange FromTo
2024 +27.9% 172,012 1000 ha 220,003 1000 ha

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 221,975 1000 ha 218,806 1000 ha 224,828 1000 ha 9
2010s 220,928 1000 ha 218,633 1000 ha 224,165 1000 ha 10
2020s 210,776 1000 ha 172,012 1000 ha 221,099 1000 ha 5

Countries ranked near Americas

  1. 1 Antarctica 1.18 million 1000 ha compare
  2. 2 Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 15.28 1000 ha compare
  3. 2 Greenland 186,005 1000 ha compare
  4. 3 Canada 24,922 1000 ha compare
  5. 3 Türkiye 9.73 1000 ha compare
  6. 4 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 3.5 1000 ha compare
  7. 4 Russian Federation 8,881 1000 ha compare
  8. 5 Norway 3,744 1000 ha compare
  9. 5 United Republic of Tanzania 0.11 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 269 places →

More environment data for Americas

All data for Americas →

Frequently asked questions

What is permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Americas?
Permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Americas was 220,003 1000 ha in 2024, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis recorded in Americas?
The highest recorded value was 224,828 1000 ha in 2001.
What is the lowest permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis recorded in Americas?
The lowest recorded value was 172,012 1000 ha in 2023.
How does Americas rank for permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis?
Americas ranks 2nd out of 26 groups with data for 2024.
Is permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis rising or falling in Americas?
Over the last ten years it is down 0.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Americas data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS in Americas. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 27 September 2026, from https://environment.statizoid.com/stat/permanent-snow-and-glaciers-area-from-modis/americas/

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About this data

Indicator
Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS
Unit
1000 ha
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage
269 places, 6,390 data points, 2001–2024
Last refreshed

The FAOSTAT domain on Land Cover data under the Agri-Environmental Indicators section contains land cover information organized by the land cover classes of the international standard system for Environmental and Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA CF). The land cover information is compiled from publicly available Global Land Cover (GLC) maps: a) MODIS land cover types based on the Land Cover Classification System, LCCS; b) The European Spatial Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) annual land cover maps produced by the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)-Geomatics and now under the European Copernicus Program; c) The annual land cover maps which were produced under the European Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) (CGLS land cover, containing discrete land cover categorization), with spatial resolution 100m; and d) the WorldCover maps of the European Space Agency, produced at 10m resolution.