The Southern Ocean absorbs more heat than any other ocean on Earth and the impacts will be felt for generations | Maurice Huguenin, Matthew England and Ryan Holmes for the Conversation

This ocean warming controls the rate of climate change, and the effects such as sea level rise are irreversible on human timescales

Over the last 50 years, the oceans have been working in overdrive to slow global warming, absorbing about 40% of our carbon dioxide emissions, and more than 90% of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere.

But as our research published today in Nature Communications has found, some oceans work harder than others.