South Korean researchers on-board the nation's first icebreaker, the Araon, have discovered evidence of a major ancient ice sheet that existed during the Ice Age. 

A team at the Korea Polar Research Institute led by researchers Hong Jong-kuk and Nam Seung-il explored underwater geographical features in the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic Ocean last August.

They say they found a large scale glacier corrosion at 12-hundred meters under water created by glaciers scraping the ocean floor with great force.

The ice landform is the thickest of its kind found in the Arctic Ocean and appears to have been formed over several occasions during the glacial period.

It's the first proof an ice sheet was present in the East Siberian Sea. The find is expected to shed light on understanding climate change in the Arctic Ocean during the Ice Age.

The study was published in the Monday issue of the journal 'Nature Geoscience'.