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Purdue: Taraia Object visible in photographs dating to 1938
Purdue University said the Taraia Object was visible in photographs dating back to 1938. Images of the object had prompted researchers to consider whether it could be the remains of a small aircraft in shallow water.
Purdue University said the Taraia Object was visible in photographs dating back to 1938. Images of the object had prompted researchers to consider whether it could be the remains of a small aircraft in shallow water.
The team travelled to a lagoon on the Taraia Peninsula on Nikumaroro, Kiribati, to investigate a shiny object first spotted in satellite imagery in 2020. Researchers wanted to establish whether it could solve the decades-long mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance.
The Taraia Object was likely a collection of large trees deposited along a peninsula's sandspit, Purdue University said. The university has a leading role in the study.
By the time researchers reached the site, much of the debris had broken apart and washed away, according to the university. Only a single Y-shaped segment remained at the location.
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Search for Amelia Earhart's plane resumes after severe weather
Researchers searching for the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's plane on a remote Pacific island have resumed work after severe weather forced them to stop for several days.
The team travelled to Nikumaroro Island, part of Kiribati, to investigate the Taraia Object. Spotted in aerial imagery of the atoll's lagoon, the object is the focus of their effort to resolve the aviator's disappearance.
Rough seas and strong winds kept the researchers aboard their vessel for three days. Conditions cleared on Sunday, ending the weather interruption that had prevented them from leaving the ship.
Weather had prevented the expedition from starting the second of its three phases. That stage involves probing underwater objects to establish their depth and dredging sediment.
The team extended the expedition to complete its fieldwork after the three-day interruption. It has not yet indicated whether it has found any promising evidence of Earhart's plane.
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Purdue says suspected object likely a collection of trees
A US expedition visited a remote Pacific island to investigate Amelia Earhart's disappearance.
In a statement issued by Monday, Purdue University said the object was likely a collection of large trees deposited along the peninsula's sandspit.
The mission began with satellite images from 2020. They showed an elongated white object in shallow water near a sandy outcrop called the Taraia Peninsula.
Other longtime Earhart explorers had quickly identified it as a fallen tree. But Richard Pettigrew, who leads the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute, found other footage showing what he suspected was a metallic glint in the water.
The university also attributed the glint to a natural process. It said the surface reflection that had prompted speculation about metal came from a carbonate veneer, and that other objects found by the team were coated with a shiny mixture of concretized coral sand.
Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in 1937 while attempting to circumnavigate the globe along the equator. Nikumaroro, in Kiribati, has emerged as a leading candidate for where they might have crash-landed.
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