PROSPECTS FOR THE DETECTION OF THE DEEP SOLAR MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION

We perform helioseismic holography to assess the noise in p-mode travel-time shifts which would form the basis of inferences of large-scale flows throughout the solar convection zone. We also derive the expected travel times from a parameterized return (equatorward) flow component of the meridional circulation at the base of the convection zone from forward models under the assumptions of the ray and Born approximations. From estimates of the signal-to-noise ratio for measurements focused near the base of the convection zone, we conclude that the helioseismic detection of the deep meridional flow including the return component may not be possible using travel-time measurements spanning an interval less than a solar cycle. We speculate that this conclusion may be generally true for other helioseismic methods under the assumption that the underlying measurements are equivalently limited by solar realization noise.