Geomagnetism and the tropospheric circulation

IN a recent article in Nature 1 , King draws attention to certain similarities between the atmospheric flow pattern in midtroposphere and the Earth's magnetic field. He postulates “some unknown magnetic-field dependent mechanism” which exerts a control on the tropospheric circulation and associated atmospheric pressure field. The evidence on which he bases this idea consists of the similarity between the distribution of the height of the 500-mbar pressure surface in the atmosphere and that of the geomagnetic field strength, particularly in latitude 60°. He supports this with some indication that the features of the 500-mbar surface have moved westwards in parallel with the features of the geomagnetic field.