The North Pole Environmental Observatory Web Camera #2 images show the development of a significant melt pond around the camera. The formation of melt ponds has always been a key feature of the summer season on sea ice. Each summer, solar radiation melts the snow cover and 10-50 cm of the sea ice upper surface. Depending on the porosity of the sea ice, the number of cracks, and distribution of openings at the edge of individual ice floes, some of the melt water from the surface drains to the ocean and the rest forms melt ponds. These are fresh water ponds lying on top of the sea ice with their surfaces slightly above sea level.