Children on the North Olympic Peninsula will be able to track Santa Claus on his global rounds via a website thanks to Google and NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

"NORAD uses four high-tech systems to track Santa--radar, satellites, Santa Cams and fighter jets," reads the NORAD Santa Web site.

NORAD has been "tracking Santa" since 1955 when a child accidentally called up the organization asking to speak to Santa.

The child asked Colonel Harry Shoup, the man in charge of the radar system designed give an early warning of an incoming Soviet attack on North America, whether he knew where Santa was.

Playing along with the child's request he checked the radar to work out Father Christmas' exact location and told the child.

The senior officer then told his staff to do same, if anyone else called asking about Santa Claus.

Since then NORAD has been providing the service at its operations centre, that will be staffed by more than 1000 volunteers.

Last Christmas, its staff answered nearly 70,000 phone calls and received 6,000 emails from families around the world. Track Santa here.