Geometry of three emerging flux loops with initial latitudes 45° (left panels),46° (middle panels), and 47° (right panels) at the base of the convection zone, for . Upper panels: inner sphere is drawn at 0.72R_⊙, and the outer sphere at 0.97R_⊙. The parts of the tube that are beneath the outer layer are shaded in grey, whereas the emerged parts are brighter. For each mass element of the tube, the colours denote the cross-sectional tube diameter (the redder the larger). Lower panels: latitudinal and radial projections of the tubes, where each mass element is represented by a dot. The horizontal line on the radial profile corresponds to the location of the outer sphere (0.97R_⊙), where the tilt angle (α) is measured from the footpoint locations. The red arrows denote the apex of each tube.