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The most extensive survey ever taken of the Antarctic sea floor shows how the ice retreated during a warming in temperatures 10,000 years ago.
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany used sonar technology on board ships to survey an area the size of Wales below the Amundsen Sea.
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The images show channels as wide as a motorway and three giant troughs, as wide as the English Channel.
Rob Larter, from the BAS, said understanding the patterns of polar ice flow was crucial to preparing for future sea rises.
He said: "One of the greatest uncertainties for predicting future sea-level rise is Antarctica's likely contribution.
"It is very important for scientists and our society to understand fully how polar ice flows into the sea.
"Our research tells us more about how the ice sheet responded to warming at the end of the last ice age, and how processes at the ice sheet bed controlled its flow.
"This is a big step toward understanding of how the ice sheets are likely to respond to future warming."
The Amundsen Sea embayment is the major drainage point for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and scientists believe it is the most likely site for a major ice sheet collapse.
The sheet covering West Antarctica is extremely unstable because it lies on rock below sea level, resulting in more icebergs breaking off.
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