Despite the backlash from both scientist and skeptics who believe his prediction to be extreme, Al Gore is sticking to his guns and still claiming that the North Pole could very well be ice-free within the next five years.

While addressing members of the Copenhagen summit, Gore backed up his opinion by quoting an international report from earlier this year that said that the North Pole could see a loss of all of its ice by the year 2015. But it seems that climatologist Wieslaw Maslowski, who provided the work that Gore’s claim is based on, said that there was a misinterpretation of his work. He claims that there is a 75% change that the North Pole could become completely ice free in the next 5 to 7 years.

But Gore is maintaining his position, stating that, “In the far north we know that the Arctic sea ice decline has also accelerated far, far beyond the expectation of the climate models. The April 2009 Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment, the result of a four-year study by the Arctic Council states, and I quote, ‘There is a possibility of an ice-free Arctic Ocean for a short period in summer perhaps as early as 2015’.”

Some scientists are outright rejecting Gore’s position, stating that he was supporting the extreme end of what could possibly happen.

Professor Jim Overland, who is one of the leading oceanographers at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, “Over the last two years we’ve learnt that it’s very difficult to melt the oldest ice at the North Pole. It would be almost impossible for this to happen within five years.”

Some other detractors aren’t being nearly as polite. Climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Richard Lindzen said, “Why would you take anything that Al Gore said seriously? He’s just extrapolated from 2007, when there was a big retreat in the sea ice, and got zero.”