Solar convection zone dynamics: How sensitive are inversions to subtle dynamo features?

The nearly 10 year span of medium-degree helioseismic data from the Global Oscillation Network Group and the Michelson Doppler Imager has allowed us to study the evolving flows in the solar convection zone over most of solar cycle 23. Using two independent two-dimensional rotation inversion techniques and extensive studies of the resolution using artificial data from different assumed flow profiles, including those generated from sample mean field dynamo models, we attempt to assess the reality of certain features seen in the inferred rotation profiles. Our results suggest that the findings from observations of a substantial depth dependence of the phase of the zonal flow pattern in the low latitudes, and the penetration of the flows deep into the convection zone, are likely to be real rather than artifacts of the inversion process.