The reason for the excitement is that, although the existence of ice on Mars has been known since 1666, when the planet's polarcaps were first seen, the low temperatures and air pressure there mean that water, even if heavily salted, is likely either to freeze or to evaporate.
Yet while most people have read of the threat of rising sea levels and melting polarcaps, or experienced a nagging guilt when booking a cheap flight or buying exotic fruit imported from the other side of the planet, hitherto global warming has largely been something we are happy to leave to the scientists to worry about.