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Abstract Meridional circulation regulates the Sun’s interior dynamics and magnetism. While it is well accepted that meridional flows are poleward at the Sun’s surface, helioseismic observations have yet to provide a definitive answer for the depth at which those flows return to the equator, or the number of circulation cells in depth. Here, we explore the observability of multiple circulation cells stacked in radius. Specifically, we examine the seismic signature of several meridional flow profiles by convolving time–distance averaging kernels with mean flows obtained from a suite of 3D hydrodynamic simulations. At mid and high latitudes, we find that weak flow structures in the deep convection zone can be obscured by signals from the much stronger surface flows. This contamination of 1–2 m s⁻¹is caused by extended side lobes in the averaging kernels, which produce a spurious equatorward signal with flow speeds that are 1 order of magnitude stronger than the original flow speeds in the simulations. At low latitudes, the flows in the deep layers of the simulations are stronger (>2 m s⁻¹) and multiple cells across the convection zone can produce a sufficiently strong signal to survive the convolution process. Now that meridional flows can be measured over two decades of data, the uncertainties arising from convective noise have fallen to a level where they are comparable in magnitude to the systematic biases caused by nonlocal features in the averaging kernels. Hence, these systematic errors are beginning to influence current helioseismic deductions and need broader consideration.