Yellowknife (June 30/03) - Want to see what it's like at the North Pole?

You can without braving the cold and the cost of getting there, simply by clicking www.arctic.noaa.gov or typing the address into your computer web browser.

It's the link to two American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Web cams now sending back images from the top of the world. The cameras, installed as part of a in partnership with a international team of researchers, updates pictures from the Pole every five to six hours.

"We can monitor the surface conditions of the ice," said Jim Overland, Oceanographer and member of the North Pole Web Cam Team from Seattle. "We get lots of people that check the Web site every day."

The cameras have been there since late April. Images are uploaded through satellites. Researchers in the South can change the focus, the exposure and how often a picture is taken.

"We put the equipment out there and then we just leave it out there," said Overland.

The Web cams only last as long as the light and batteries do. The batteries use solar power to recharge.

All the information collected by the web cams and other meteorological equipment at the pole is being used for climate studies. Overland said researchers are trying to determine why over the last 15 years, there's less sea ice in the Arctic.