The glacier and snow meltwater are the most stable water resources on earth. A glacier is a large mass of ice formed from compacted snow which moves very slowly down a mountain valley. The snow and ice covered areas are very sensitive to climatic changes such as global warming. Although it is very important to monitor the snow and ice covered areas at a large scale for the global environmental studies, satellite remote sensing seems to be the only operational method. Using Satellite remote sensing data, recent glacier variations in the Northern Patagonia Icefield were monitored and examined. For measurement of glacier variations, Geographic Information System (GIS) was utilized. Glaciers in this area showed clear recession at the terminus, which corresponds well with the recent, apparent global warming trend. The retreating rate of individual glaciers varied greatly implying that their recessions are caused not only by ambient climatic conditions such as precipitation and air temperature, but also by local topo-climatic effects and glacier dynamics.
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