After having processed satellite information, National Snow and Ice Data Center scientists (of the University of Colorado) came up with a rather concerning possible evolution pattern of the ice found in the Arctic.

According to the study, young sea ice, usually about 60 inches deep, now totals 72 percent of the current Arctic ice sheet. As young sea ice is much more likely to melt in warmer climate conditions than ice formed a long time ago, scientists said there is a 50 percent chance for the North Pole to turn into an enormous pool, this very year.

So far, along with global weather and wildlife modifications, a continuous alteration of ice masses could be observed, and although several major industrial powers have started to become more environmentally-aware, a lot of harm has already been done and the planetary system may need a long time to get balanced again.

In March 2008, satellite images clearly showed that a large part of Antarctica's massive Wilkins Ice Shelf, a plate of permanently floating ice, situated somewhere in the southwest of the Antarctic Peninsula, had begun disintegrating under the effects of global warming.

David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey estimated, within a talk with National Geographic, that the larger formation from which the chunk separated — the Wilkins Ice Shelf — may collapse in no more than 15 years.

Global warming and all its repercussions have become very popular subjects these days and more and more people and institutions are beginning to show interest in these soon-to-be-delicate matters.

Climate change was the top issue at the summit in Heiligendamm at the beginning of June, and the Group of Eight leaders did their best to contradict many skeptics that were expecting a major failure regarding a new climate policy.

One of the major accomplishments of the summit was the agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by the year 2050, a benchmark that all participating nations agreed with.