Thermal forcing of low‐latitude zonal flow variations. Panels (a) and (c) show the imposed entropy perturbation, (b) and (d) the resulting zonal flows. Panels (a) and (b) use a forcing function with ﹩r_{0}=0.75\ R_{\odot }﹩, ﹩\theta _{0}=80^{\circ }﹩, (c) and (d) with ﹩r_{0}=0.95\ R_{\odot }﹩, ﹩\theta _{0}=65^{\circ }﹩. Contrary to the results presented in Fig. 5 for mechanical forcing, the driven zonal flows show significant deviations from the Taylor‐Proudman state. Especially in (b), the imposed 25° angle of the thermal forcing function is clearly visible in the zonal flow field. Also, both zonal bands (faster and slower one) are visible, with the faster band on the equatorial side being of larger amplitude and more confined.