Although it is already a year full of important events 2009 could be remembered in the decades and maybe centuries to come as the first time man was able to reach the North Pole by boat and not by sledge.

The latest research regarding the issue shows that there are 50% percent chances that the North Pole will be ice free in August and September, the months which mark the minimum ice cover of the region.

"I'd say it's even odds whether the North Pole melts out," said Dr. Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., according to the British newspaper The Independent.

Serreze said that for the first time, the North Pole is covered with extensive first-year ice which formed during the past autumn and winter. This type of ice melts quicker during the summer months and satellite data confirmed the fact that the rate of the ice’s retreat is faster than last year. Scientists estimated that about 70% of the sea ice present this spring at the North Pole was single-year ice.

This very important change could be good news only to oil drillers whose access to the rich Arctic deposits was blocked by the thick ice so far. The arctic nations now face the prospect of exploiting the precious oil and mineral resources below the sea bed. However, for the rest of us are not just bad news, it’s a shocking and disturbing milestone.

"From the viewpoint of science, the North Pole is just another point on the globe, but symbolically it is hugely important. There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water," said Serreze.

Last year much of the Arctic Ocean became open water as the water-ice boundary came to just 700 miles away from the North Pole.