On Christmas Eve this year, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will help the North American Aerospace
Defense Command track Santa Claus. NOAA will maintain a
satellite watch of the North Pole for weather conditions and
any unusual activity.
NOAA’s Satellite Command and Data Acquisition
Station in Fairbanks, Alaska, is ready to spot activity at the
North Pole. NORAD will answer children’s questions on its comprehensive,
six-language Santa tracking Web site at http://www.noradsanta.org.
All site material, including the live tracking event, will be
available in English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian and
Brazilian Portuguese.
NORAD will also attempt to set the record
straight in regards to outrageous allegations that have been
made by several fifth grade students as to the existence of Santa
Claus. Seeing is believing and NORAD has perfected its 46-year-old
tradition of tracking Santa on Christmas Eve. Visual and audio
updates will be posted hourly on the Web site from 7:00 a.m.
Dec. 24 EST to 5:00 a.m. Dec. 25 EST.
2000 Program
The 2000 NORAD Tracks Santa Team again
includes AOL, who will host the site on an extensive network
of servers, and Analytical Graphics who created the site and
all supporting imagery with NORAD. In addition, Globelink Services
International coordinated the extensive translation required
for the Web site. All the organizations and volunteers who help
make this global NORAD Christmas project possible do so at no
cost to the taxpayer. For more information, call Maj Jamie Robertson
at (719) 554-5816, 2608 or 6889.
