Satellite imagery that may show debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is raising hopes that investigators can narrow what has been a needle-in-a-haystack search operation.
The images, obtained and
analyzed by the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation as "a
possible indication of debris south of the search area that has been the
focus of the search operation," according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, were taken above a remote part of ocean thousands of kilometers south-east of Australia.
Two objects, one of
approximately 24 meters (78.7 ft) in length and another around five
meters (16.4 ft) long have been spotted, leading to hopes that more
information regarding the missing airliner has come to light.
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Beforehand, search
corridors had extended both through central Asia and as far south as the
depths of the Indian Ocean. The new find gives cause that the search
operations can zero in on a much more focused field.
However, the area of
southern Indian Ocean, 2,350 kilometers (1,460 miles) to the southeast
of Perth in western Australia is a remote, potentially inhospitable area
of sea which will not necessarily aid search operations -- Australian
Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the search area Friday as the
"about the most inaccessible spot you could imagine on the face of the
earth."
New Day's Chris Cuomo illustrated the difficulty
of the task ahead. "They are saying it's the most challenging of
things. It's far, it's remote, it's very deep and you're in the storm
season so it's inclement there as well... it's a tough set of
constraints," he told Richard Quest.
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The distance from
Australia means that the search time of aircraft "on station" -- within
the reduced search zone -- will be limited to only a couple of hours.
Weather will also
potentially be an issue. Already, the first aircraft on the scene which
was dispatched early Thursday to assess the site, has reported "poor
visibility," despite "moderate weather conditions," according to the
AMSA's John Young, who spoke at a media briefing Thursday. "This will hamper both air and satellite efforts," he said.
CNN meteorologist Pedram
Javaheri says that weather in the region, especially at this time of
year, can be unpredictable. "Today marks the first day of autumn down
under, so it's not unusual to see the weather in this part of the world
start to pick up in intensity.
"We have very limited
(weather) info in this remote corner of the planet. In fact, it is so
remote that (weather) satellites are even a bit choppy that far south."
A key to the search is the height of the waves and whether there are whitecaps present, former flight commander Rick Burgess told CNN's Becky Anderson. "Those high waves... are very disruptive on your search pattern when you're trying to look for objects in the water."
He estimated that the
search crews would have a window of three to four days. "Then from there
I don't see much hope in finding anything in the near term."
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The average depth in
that area of the ocean is around 13,000 feet, which is slightly less
than the average depth worldwide. The area's depth could still present
significant problems for retrieving wreckage -- should the objects seen
on satellite be confirmed as part of the missing plane. There are
volcanic ridges underwater which rise up from the ocean floor, which can
reduce the depth to 3,000 feet.
Also, this part of the
Indian Ocean is the location of the Indian Ocean Gyre, one of five major
gyres worldwide. A gyre is an area of circular ocean current where
water does not circulate particularly freely. The Indian Ocean Gyre is
known to trap large volumes of debris in the southern Indian Ocean as
currents here are very weak and show little to no movement over long
periods of time, Javaheri said.
However, "at these very
high latitudes (where the debris was spotted)... westerly winds are
typically very strong and they can certainly impact large-scale debris
and move them along," meaning that wind patterns may have influenced the
location of the sighted objects.
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