The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is so loaded with carbon dioxide that it can barely absorb any more, so more of the gas will stay in the atmosphere to warm up the planet. Researcher Corinne Le Quere said: “We thought we would be able to detect these only the second half of this century, say 2050 or so.” But data from 1981 through 2004 show the sink is already full of carbon dioxide. “So I find this really quite alarming,” she added.