They're not really rare. Weather sats take daily pics up there. If you're asking about ground focussed ones, well, there's not too much to see of interest, other than ice fields and open patches of the Arctic ocean. Scientifically a gold mine of information, but not of practical use to the average "joe". Here's a few links to daily updated and archived sat pics. http://home.att.net/~duffingl/ http://dbaron.org/sat/comp/#polar http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/polar/

What's rare is the satellite images of area 51 and other select sites as well! Maybe the Russians are willing to provide satellite images of area 51, I am sure that will steam our military to no end!

The answers you've received so far are entirely incorrect. The images are so rare because the Government(s) have decided that the imagery is a threat to national security. Hmm, okay to share imagery of the country, but not of the poles? Something smells funny here! Hollow Earth theory?

Pictures of the North Pole are rare because it's hard to find the damn pole in all that sea ice, fog, low stratus clouds, snow, etc. Santa hides his workshop well.

Boring , just a white screen , with a polar bears black nose every now and then.

Just watched video of north pole http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/np2008/cam1-2008web.mov http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/gallery_np.html If u watch Animation of cam1 2008 you can see that on may 25th the temp reached 3.5 C. I wonder how warm it will be in aug. From 2012

Funny answer Ya_wehs. Employing your logic, satellite imagery of our oceans and deserts should also be removed.. I mean, who wants to see a big blue screen or a big beige screen? Same with you Chelseamark. You've just tacitly agreed and allowed other people the right to judge the value of information on your behalf and for those judges to also decide what you CAN and CAN'T see. If it were as simple as you suggest, that it is not there because it is boring to the "average Joe", then perhaps you might consider taking steps so that you can leave that label and become an independent, thinking, contemplative human being seeking truth and condemning any and all attempts to censor the information you may consume as such. This is not a slam on either person mentioned, but instead a general commentary. Just stop and think about it and you just may realize that the satellite images should be there.. they should be on google Earth (among others) just as the oceans and deserts. But they're not.. they're NOT there. You can NOT get unedited, full satellite imagery of EITHER pole. Nobody looks for the poles so they can zoom in to see a white screen! We want to see the images from a distance.. for it is from distance that it has been proven is the best method of truly seeing our planet, its topography, its shape, its size, pretty much all macro-earth interests. Just ask yourself.. "WHY IS IT NOT THERE?" There is a reason, but we must, like the satellite, step back from our granular, proximal viewpoint to find it.

The reason for the images being rare is that satellite orbits do not traverse the poles. The gentleman that stated the May 25, 2008 temperature of 3.0 degrees C is warm should have checked the May 25, 2002 temperature of 4.0 degrees C. If you review all the temperatures you will find that they seem have the same cycle yearly. The coldest weather is in Siberia, in fact the record low for the Northern Hemisphere was recorded at Verkhoyansk (-94º F or - 67.8º C). As you can see the ice is still there while every new org is telling you it is gone? I hear someone say for the first time we can sail the Northwest Passage. A man did Roald Amundsen in 1914 with a wooden ship not an icebreaker. I believe the earth is warming and has been doing so since the end of the ice age. Is man causing it? Or Are we adding to it? Data tells us we are looking at less than a degree which before 1950 was difficult to measure with common instruments. I look at the data and it is difficult to give a fair answer. Review of States record temperatures. Did you know that the record high temperatures for two states were set in the 2000s and there are only four set in the 1990s. 32 States set their records before 1950. This I do know there is money to be made with new tech companies, carbon credits, and a lot of people following orders. When you push on someone to see things your way and insist that there is global warming have you looked at all the info. Is that lake losing water due to heat or is it diminishing for farming, drinking, or increased population? When a scientist tells you he has found something do you want to verify his data and calculations or just accept it? I remember the scientist that discovered cold fusion, do you? What parameters go into heating the earth – earth tilt, orbit variations, solar activity, sunspots, trees, asphalt, buildings, population, changes in earth’s core, ozone, or did I miss some. I do however agree with the elimination of oil use my the US of A and I will buy a fully electric car by 2010. (No Hybrid for me)

I've heard its because there are 300 km wide holes leading to middle earth and the gov don't want you to know about it .. I'd check it out myself if I had the means ..

Since there is a hole at north pole of 1400 miles diameter and 1300 miles diameter at south pole and there are inter territorials being living into it and authorities do not want you to know as it would create panic among the civilians.One day you will come to know about it.

Since there is a hole at north pole with 1400 miles diameter and 1300 miles diameter at south pole and there are inter territorials being living into it and authorities do not want you to know as it would create panic among the civilians.One day you will come to know about it.

Because if they were not so rare then we would know that Al Gores Global Warming theory is invalid. In other words it's a conspiracy against us from knowing what truely is going on. It's pretty easy to them, the less we know the easier it is to create and implement a diabolical plan of world domination.

In 2009, as more and more sea ice has returned to the Arctic Region, less satellite imagery has become available. It appears the Artic Region is now in a recovery cycle, with less sea ice melting this past season, then in years past. This explains why the term "Global Warming" has been changed to "Climate Change". The alleged Scientists will now be looking for another region to direct its campaign.