THE TAKEAWAY
NIKUMARORO, Kiribati – The search for Amelia Earhart’s crashed plane is entering a new phase as the Taraia Object expedition team travels to the island where researchers believe she may have disappeared.
This comes after satellite imagery revealed an object off the coast of Nikumaroro Island, leading researchers to believe it could be Earhart’s aircraft.
A 17-person joint effort crew, part of the Taraia Object Expedition Team, Archaeological Legacy Institute, Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue University, arrived on the island on Monday to begin investigations of the visual anomaly, known as a Taraia Object, which is a commonly used name for a visual anomaly in the lagoon of Nikumaroro Island.
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The Taraia Object was first located in 2020, but has been in the same spot since 1938, about 10 feet from the lagoon's shore.
Upon arrival on the island, crews cleared overgrowth using machetes and hand chainsaws to make a path to the lagoon.
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Although most of the day was spent creating a staging area for research, crews were able to walk around to look for artifacts during the first phase of extensive onsite research.
Research crews will conduct biological and environmental surveys.
The team will also use a magnetometer to detect ferrous metals, which contain iron as a main component.
Earhart's plane is mostly aluminum, but steel cabling and other metal components could trigger a ferrous metal reading, according to the Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue University.
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The next phase will use sonar to detect objects beneath the lagoon floor sediment. In contrast, an archaeology team will use a hydroprobe to determine the exact depth, position and surface composition of the potential aircraft.
Next, crewmembers will install a water induction dredge to fluidize underwater sediment so it can be moved efficiently by fluid dynamics or natural currents without physically moving the object itself.
This will allow a much clearer visual inspection of the object.
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This marks the first time in seven years that a research expedition has set foot on the island, and more than 15 years since anyone has entered the Taraia Peninsula, as crew members traveled over 830 nautical miles over five days to reach the location.
Each day of the five-day research expedition offers a chance to find new, never-before-seen evidence in one of the wildest mysteries in U.S.history, with the first real opportunity to identify the aircraft and learn more about Earhart's final days.
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Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in July 1937 during her attempted circumnavigation of the world.
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The last time she was seen alive was on June 29, 1937, when she and her flight navigator, Fred Noonan, stopped in Lae, New Guinea, during their trip.
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