[1] A map of north–south subkilometer-scale slope asymmetry on Mars obtained from statistical analysis of along-track MOLA topographic profiles reveals welldefined zonal belts of north–south slope asymmetry at 40–50 latitude in both hemispheres. In these narrow anomalous belts the pole-facing slopes are systematically gentler than equator-facing slopes. This asymmetry is especially pronounced f...

Based on straightforward dynamical considerations, we show how available and upcoming measurements of Saturn’s thermal and gravitational signals can be used to constrain the depth to which its zonal winds penetrate. The dynamical considerations issue from the facts that Saturn has a strong intrinsic heat flux, rotates rapidly, and has negligible atmospheric viscosity. As a result, convective mo...

Recent retrievals of zonal thermal winds obtained in a cyclostrophic regime on Venus are generally consistent with cloud tracking measurements at midlatitudes, but become unphysical in polar regions where the values obtained above the clouds are often less than or close to zero. Using a global atmospheric model, we show that the main source of errors that appear in the polar regions when retrie...

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will make microwave and gravity measurements of Jupiter. These can reveal information about the composition of Jupiter’s atmosphere and about the temperature and density structure below the visible clouds, which is in balance with the structure of the zonal winds. Here we show that there exist strong physical constraints on the structure of the off-equatorial deep zonal w...

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Eclogite HP granulite Paired metamorphic belts UHPM UHTM The modern plate tectonics regime is characterized by a duality of thermal environments, one representing the subduction zone and the other representing the arc–backarc or orogenic hinterland. This duality is the hallmark of one-sided (asymmetric) subduction, and the characteristic imprint of one-sided subd...

Zonal flows and, more generally, zonal structures are known to play important self-regulatory roles in the dynamics of microscopic drift-wave-type turbulences. Since toroidal Alfvén eigenmode (TAE) plays crucial roles in the Alfvén wave instabilities in burning fusion plasmas, it is, thus, important to understand and assess the possible roles of zonal flow and structures on the nonlinear dynami...

Metamorphism associated with orogenesis provides a mineral record that may be inverted to yield ambient apparent thermal gradients. On modern Earth, tectonic settings with lower thermal gradients are characteristic of subduction zones whereas those with higher thermal gradients are characteristic of backarcs and orogenic hinterlands. The duality of thermal environments reflects the asymmetry of...