Panel a: meridional circulation profiles as functions of latitude where the peak speed varies from 7.5 ms⁻¹ to 22.5 ms⁻¹ (denoted by different colours) in southern hemisphere. Positive (and negative) velocities indicate the flow is towards the south (and north) pole. Each flow profile is labelled alphabetically starting from “A” to “F”, while “S” represents the symmetric profile. Panel b: time evolution of the corresponding hemispheric polar flux. Panels c and d: magnetic butterfly diagram corresponding to the case A (with peak flow speed 7.5 ms⁻¹) and the case F (peak speed 22.5 ms⁻¹). The red dashed vertical lines depict the time of sunspot maximum.