Researchers have measured and mapped ridges on the ocean floor that represent a legacy of melting ice sheets, and it spells out a shrinkage of as much as 50 metres (more than 160 feet) in a single day.

Researchers from the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge used the opportunity to map the seabed close to the east of the Antarctic Peninsula with the surveillance equipment they had on board.

Also much like today, changes in the global climate were causing the ice sheets to shrink as they melted away.

Measurements taken using an autonomous underwater vehicle hovering 60 metres (197 feet) above the floor provided researchers with details of the rippled landscape.

"By examining landforms on the seafloor, we were able to make determinations about how the ice behaved in the past," says Julian Dowdeswell, Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute.

Modern satellite technology does a superb job of keeping a close eye on the changing geology of Antarctica's ice sheets today, dating back a few decades at best.