A 17-member team of American researchers has begun an expedition near Nikumaroro in the South Pacific to locate the wreckage of aviator Amelia Earhart’s missing plane. The team, led by Steve Schultz of Purdue University and Richard Pettigrew of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, is investigating a specific visual anomaly in a lagoon known as the "Taraia Object."
The expedition was prompted by satellite imagery from 2020 that highlighted the anomaly, which researchers noted has been visible in aerial photographs since 1938. The team spent five days at sea to reach the remote location, which is situated in the Republic of Kiribati, approximately 400 miles southeast of Howland Island.
Search efforts were slowed by stormy weather on Wednesday, but the team reported they are currently in a data-gathering phase. According to Pettigrew, the next steps include a full analysis of the collected data followed by the use of a hydraulic dredge to remove sediment from the lagoon floor. The researchers stated they expect to determine if the object is Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10-E within several days.
If the "Taraia Object" is confirmed as the Lockheed Electra 10-E, it would provide an end to the search for two individuals who vanished 22,000 miles into a flight around the equator. For the public and students of aviation history, a discovery would potentially reveal the final flight path and circumstances of the 1937 mission. The researchers noted that their plan to dredge the lagoon floor is a new approach to this search area.
The researchers have not yet provided a specific date for when the dredging will begin, but they stated on Wednesday that they expect a definitive answer on the nature of the object in the coming days as data analysis continues.
Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937, during an attempt to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe. Their intended destination at the time of their disappearance was Howland Island.