Climate varied enormously over the most recent ice age¹ — for example, large pulses of ice-rafted debris², originating mainly from the Labrador Sea³, were deposited into the North Atlantic at roughly 7,000-year intervals, with global climatic implications³. Here we show that ocean tides within the Labrador Sea were exceptionally large over the period spanning these huge, abrupt ice movements, which are known as Heinrich events. We propose that tides played a catalytic role in liberating iceberg armadas during that time.

1. Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Princeton University, PO Box CN710, Sayre Hall, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544-0710, USA
2. Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
3. Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 1A7, Ontario, Canada
4. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Durham, Science Laboratories, Durham DH1 3LE, UK

Correspondence to: Brian K. Arbic¹ Email: arbic@splash.princeton.edu

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