Actually, since the air at the poles is so cold, and air at the equator is so warm, the warm air travels to the poles (cold air is less dense) and with this warm air, is a lot of carbon dioxide (highly flammable) and it gets trapped in the ice when the moisture in the air freezes and falls out of the air. Because of this, the ice caps are extremely prone to catching fire, which is why we don't live on them.
Just kidding, I completely made that up, it's a sick piece though.