MH 370 - winds and tides help search

BTN News
Thursday, 15 December 2016

Oceanographers from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), the United States National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the University of Miami, University of Hawaii, and the Commonwealth Science Industrial and Research Organization (CSIRO) are using wind, tide and 'drifters' to estimate where the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 may lie.


They used two sets of data to help track the possible paths of debris from the missing plane, believed to be somewhere on the floor of the Indian ocean west of Australia.
First, they used NOAA’s Global Drifter Array, which have a surface float and an anchor (or drogue) that extends 15 metres under the surface. These report ocean currents, surface ocean temperature, pressure, wind and salinity.


In the Indian Ocean alone, there are approximately 400 of these drifters at any time, providing continuous ocean measurement information.


Several of them have been loosed and travelled across the Indian Ocean to their final destination near Reunion Island, very near where MH370 wing debris was found. The duration it took the drifters to make the journey was similar to that of the debris.


MH disappeared on a scheduled flight between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Beijing, China in May 2014.

MH 370 - winds and tides help search

BTN News
Thursday, 15 December 2016

Oceanographers from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), the United States National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the University of Miami, University of Hawaii, and the Commonwealth Science Industrial and Research Organization (CSIRO) are using wind, tide and 'drifters' to estimate where the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 may lie.


They used two sets of data to help track the possible paths of debris from the missing plane, believed to be somewhere on the floor of the Indian ocean west of Australia.
First, they used NOAA’s Global Drifter Array, which have a surface float and an anchor (or drogue) that extends 15 metres under the surface. These report ocean currents, surface ocean temperature, pressure, wind and salinity.


In the Indian Ocean alone, there are approximately 400 of these drifters at any time, providing continuous ocean measurement information.


Several of them have been loosed and travelled across the Indian Ocean to their final destination near Reunion Island, very near where MH370 wing debris was found. The duration it took the drifters to make the journey was similar to that of the debris.


MH disappeared on a scheduled flight between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Beijing, China in May 2014.