World · East Asia & Pacific · 4 hrs ago
Researchers search Nikumaroro for possible Amelia Earhart plane wreckage
A team from the Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue University has arrived on Nikumaroro, an island in the Pacific nation of Kiribati.
The researchers will inspect an object near the island’s shore that some believe could be wreckage from Amelia Earhart’s plane.
Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world.
The object, seen in satellite imagery in 2020, may also be something other than an aircraft, such as a collapsed tree.
The team plans to search the Taraia Peninsula for evidence, including magnetic metals, and use dredging equipment to inspect the object.
The five-day effort could be affected by large coconut crabs, which come out at night, and by the El Niño climate phenomenon.
The inspection could add evidence to a mystery that has prompted decades of speculation, but the object’s identity is not yet known.
Researchers from the Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue University have arrived at Nikumaroro Island to inspect an object that may be wreckage from Amelia Earhart’s plane.
The Taraia Object was first spotted in satellite imagery in 2020, sitting at the edge of a lagoon.
Some believe it could be Earhart’s plane, while others doubt it is an aircraft and suggest it may be a collapsed tree.
The team expects to spend five days searching, including using dredging equipment to expose the object for visual inspection.
Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world.
- Who
- Researchers from the Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue University.
- What
- They are searching for possible plane wreckage linked to Amelia Earhart.
- When
- The team arrived on Monday; its work is expected to take five days.
- Where
- Nikumaroro Island, in Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean.
- Why
- To inspect the Taraia Object, which some believe may be Earhart’s plane.
Supporters of the plane-wreckage theory
Skeptics of the plane-wreckage theory
Identity of the object
Supporters of the plane-wreckage theory
Some believe the Taraia Object is wreckage from Earhart’s plane.
Skeptics of the plane-wreckage theory
Others doubt it is an aircraft and suggest it could be a collapsed tree.
Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared while attempting to fly around the world.
The Taraia Object was first spotted in satellite imagery at the edge of a lagoon off Nikumaroro.
The research team arrived at Nikumaroro aboard the Marin Mainiku after a five-day voyage across 830 nautical miles.
The crew planned to pass through a gap in the atoll’s reef and prepare to land.
Researchers planned to search the Taraia Peninsula for evidence, including magnetic metals.
The team planned to use dredging equipment to move sediment for a visual inspection of the object.
- Research team
- Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue University
- Island
- Nikumaroro, Kiribati
- Search target
- Taraia Object
- First spotted
- 2020, in satellite imagery
- Planned search duration
- Five days
- Distance from shore
- About 10 feet, in as little as five feet of water
What people are saying
It is incredibly rewarding to be this close to completing our inspection of the Taraia Object and potentially solving, at long last, the outstanding mystery of the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan more than 89 years ago.
Sources
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