Melbourne Herald Sun: FOR the first time in human history, the North Pole may be briefly ice-free by September as global warming melts away Arctic sea ice. Seasoned polar scientists believe the chances of a totally ice-free North Pole this northern summer are greater than 50-50. The normally thick ice formed over many years at the Pole has been blown away and replaced by huge swaths of thinner ice formed over a single year, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Boulder, Colorado. …