In particular, the formation of shocks and the consequent a) departure from local thermal equilibrium, which may be important for baryogenesis, and b) the generation of vorticity which may be important in the origin of primordial magnetic fields. (perimeterinstitute.ca)
In actual fact the atmosphere are in APPROXIMATE local thermal equilibrium. (wattsupwiththat.com)
This relies on the local thermal equilibrium of a system. (sciencedaily.com)