Jim Hone
University of Canberra, Australia
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I read with interest the earlier attempt to answer this question (28 May), which suggested there was probably no link. However, there is some recent evidence that Earth鈥檚 magnetic field may affect the weather.
A reversal of the magnetic field about 42,000 years ago, known as the Laschamps Excursion, occurred around the same time as substantial changes in the weather and changes in biodiversity in parts of the world, including the Pacific region. For example, megafauna extinctions peaked in Australia around this time.
This was outlined in a in the journal Science entitled 鈥淎 global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago鈥�. This analysed ancient kauri trees preserved in northern New Zealand wetlands to reconstruct atmospheric carbon levels at that time. The researchers dubbed this crisis the 鈥淎dams Event鈥� after the writer Douglas Adams because of the number 42, which is central to the plots of some of his books.
Casey Brown
Clyde, North Carolina, US
Reports in New Scientist from the 1980s addressed this issue, based on research by Goesta Wollin, a climate scientist at Columbia University, New York (I live in his former house).
These articles outline Wollin鈥檚 findings of a link between the rate of change in Earth鈥檚 magnetic field and sea surface temperatures, for instance, and his claim that winter blizzards can be predicted two days ahead from magnetic changes.
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