Ice-free Arctic? Not in my year!

There has been a lot of speculation lately that the Arctic might be ice-free this summer. In fact, scientists are actually placing the odds at 50-50.
I do not believe this. Not because I do not believe in global warming or anything, but rather because I simply refuse to accept that this year, the year I am actually GOING to the Arctic, is the year that it will happen. In August I am headed out to Barrow, AK to meet up with the USCGC Healy, an icebreaker surveying the North Atlantic as part of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). I have been excited for this trip all year, and when I finally cross the Arctic Circle I expect to see two things:

1. Polar bears in the wild
2. Ice, lots of ice.

What is the point on being on an icebreaker if there is no ice to break?

If you ask me, 2009 would be a much better year for the Arctic to go ice-free...