Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS in Europe

Europe: Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS was 13,906 1000 ha in 2024. ▼ Falling

Latest (2024)
13,906 1000 ha
Change on year
down 1.4%
Rank
4th
of 26 groups
All-time high
15,711 1000 ha
in 2004
All-time low
13,801 1000 ha
in 2016
Years of data
24
2001–2024

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

05.0k10.0k15.0k2001201220242001: 14.8k 1000 ha2002: 14.3k 1000 ha2003: 14.5k 1000 ha2004: 15.7k 1000 ha2005: 15.7k 1000 ha2006: 15.6k 1000 ha2007: 15.5k 1000 ha2008: 15.2k 1000 ha2009: 15.4k 1000 ha2010: 15.2k 1000 ha2011: 14.8k 1000 ha2012: 14.4k 1000 ha2013: 13.9k 1000 ha2014: 14.2k 1000 ha2015: 14.3k 1000 ha2016: 13.8k 1000 ha2017: 14.4k 1000 ha2018: 14.4k 1000 ha2019: 14.6k 1000 ha2020: 14.1k 1000 ha2021: 13.9k 1000 ha2022: 14.1k 1000 ha2023: 14.1k 1000 ha2024: 13.9k 1000 ha

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

Analysis

The most recent figure for permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Europe is 13,906 1000 ha, measured in 2024.

That represents a change of down 1.4% on the previous year and down 1.9% over ten years.

Over the whole period, permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Europe peaked at 15,711 1000 ha in 2004 and was at its lowest, 13,801 1000 ha, in 2016.

Europe ranks 4th of 26 groups on this measure, in the top quarter.

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

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

Annual values for Permanent snow and glaciers — Area from MODIS in Europe, 2001 to 2024.
Year 1000 ha Change
2001 14,782 1000 ha —
2002 14,297 1000 ha -3.3%
2003 14,528 1000 ha +1.6%
2004 15,711 1000 ha +8.1%
2005 15,677 1000 ha -0.2%
2006 15,553 1000 ha -0.8%
2007 15,466 1000 ha -0.6%
2008 15,171 1000 ha -1.9%
2009 15,394 1000 ha +1.5%
2010 15,194 1000 ha -1.3%
2011 14,817 1000 ha -2.5%
2012 14,435 1000 ha -2.6%
2013 13,911 1000 ha -3.6%
2014 14,182 1000 ha +1.9%
2015 14,295 1000 ha +0.8%
2016 13,801 1000 ha -3.5%
2017 14,419 1000 ha +4.5%
2018 14,406 1000 ha -0.1%
2019 14,613 1000 ha +1.4%
2020 14,057 1000 ha -3.8%
2021 13,943 1000 ha -0.8%
2022 14,067 1000 ha +0.9%
2023 14,108 1000 ha +0.3%
2024 13,906 1000 ha -1.4%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 15,175 1000 ha 14,297 1000 ha 15,711 1000 ha 9
2010s 14,407 1000 ha 13,801 1000 ha 15,194 1000 ha 10
2020s 14,016 1000 ha 13,906 1000 ha 14,108 1000 ha 5

Countries ranked near Europe

  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
  10. 6 China 2,848 1000 ha compare
  11. 6 China, mainland 2,848 1000 ha compare
  12. 6 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 0 1000 ha compare
  13. 6 Democratic Republic of the Congo 0 1000 ha
  14. 6 Lao People's Democratic Republic 0 1000 ha
  15. 6 Micronesia (Federated States of) 0 1000 ha
  16. 6 Republic of Moldova 0 1000 ha
  17. 6 Syrian Arab Republic 0 1000 ha
  18. 6 Timor-Leste 0 1000 ha
  19. 6 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 0 1000 ha
  20. 6 Viet Nam 0 1000 ha
  21. 6 Wallis and Futuna Islands 0 1000 ha
  22. 6 Melanesia 0 1000 ha compare
  23. 6 Micronesia 0 1000 ha compare
  24. 6 Polynesia 0 1000 ha compare

See the full ranking of 269 places →

More environment data for Europe

All data for Europe →

Frequently asked questions

What is permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Europe?
Permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis in Europe was 13,906 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 Europe?
The highest recorded value was 15,711 1000 ha in 2004.
What is the lowest permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis recorded in Europe?
The lowest recorded value was 13,801 1000 ha in 2016.
How does Europe rank for permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis?
Europe ranks 4th out of 26 groups with data for 2024.
Is permanent snow and glaciers — area from modis rising or falling in Europe?
Over the last ten years it is down 1.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Europe 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 Europe. 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/europe/

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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.