Expedition probes Nikumaroro object, but Earhart mystery remains unsolved
Nearly 89 years after Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished over the Pacific, a Purdue University-backed expedition is examining a submerged object off Nikumaroro that researchers hope could finally be the wreckage of her Lockheed Electra.
Snapshot
A 17-member team supported by Purdue and the Archaeological Legacy Institute is surveying the "Taraia Object," an underwater anomaly near Nikumaroro first spotted in 2020 satellite imagery. Severe weather briefly halted work, and no wreckage has been confirmed. Researchers remain divided on whether the object is aircraft debris at all.
Key points
- The search area: Nikumaroro, formerly Gardner Island, sits about 400 miles southeast of Howland Island, Earhart's intended refueling stop.
- The tools in use: Investigators are deploying side-scan sonar, magnetometers, a hydroprobe and sediment-clearing equipment to examine the lagoon floor.
- Skepticism persists: Ric Gillespie, a longtime Earhart researcher, told Reuters he believes the object is a fallen pandanus tree, not an airplane.
- History of false leads: A January 2024 sonar image from Deep Sea Vision raised hopes before being confirmed in November 2024 as a natural rock formation.
- New evidence source: The Air Force Museum of New Zealand just released 47 high-resolution 1938 aerial photos of Nikumaroro for closer study.
Quick take
The 1937 Navy and Coast Guard search for Earhart's Electra was the largest air-and-sea rescue of its time, and the case has drawn renewed attention ever since, including Robert Ballard's 2019 expedition. Rick Pettigrew of the Archaeological Legacy Institute cautioned that "it's too early to reach conclusions," and that caution still fits a mystery that has outlasted nearly every previous claim of a breakthrough.
Read the full story: military.com