The web cam was deployed on an ice floe at the North Pole in spring of 2014.
Web cam images track the snow cover, weather conditions, and the instruments that are seen in the 
camera images. 
In the spring, the camera lens may sometimes be covered by rain or fog.
Leads of open water, like this one, can form in the ice at any time of year and are not caused by 
melting.  
They are due to constant movement in the ice, which causes deformation and pressure ridges, and can 
be a source of new ice production.
Due to the wide angle lenses used in the camera, objects such as the ocean-atmosphere buoy, are closer 
to the camera than they appear.   
The buoy and web cam transmitted continuously until, probably, a newly-formed pressure ridge 
abruptly destroyed the data buoy sensors and terminated transmissions from the webcam on July 1.  
Typically the web cams continue transmission into September, but this early destruction by a pressure 
ridge is one of the risks in deploying instrumentation in the Arctic.