Identify the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, it may be useful

Compilation | Wen Le Le LeVine pot. Image source: PixabayAn international research team has proposed a new method to reconstruct the drift path and source of the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight

Compilation | Wen Le Le Le

Vine pot. Image source: Pixabay

An international research team has proposed a new method to reconstruct the drift path and source of the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight. On August 23rd, the relevant results were published in the Progress of the American Geophysical Society.

In 2014, MH370 flight disappeared over the Indian Ocean with 239 passengers and crew members on board. Gregory Herbert, an associate professor at the University of South Florida in the United States, was inspired by photos of aircraft wreckage that washed up on the coast of Reunion Island in Africa one year after the crash.

The flaps and ailerons of the plane are covered with barnacles. As soon as I saw them, I immediately sent an email to the search investigators because I knew the geochemical characteristics of these barnacle shells could provide clues for finding the crash site, "Herbert said.

As an evolutionary and conservation biologist, Herbert primarily studies marine systems, with a particular focus on crustaceous marine invertebrates such as oysters, snails, and barnacles. Over the past 20 years, Herbert has created and improved a method to extract ocean temperatures stored in chemical components of invertebrate shells. Herbert previously used this method to determine the age and extinction risk of the giant horse snail, and investigated the environmental conditions during the disappearance of the Jamestown colony in North America.

The outer shell of barnacles and other shelled marine invertebrates grows daily, creating an inner layer similar to tree rings. The chemical composition of each layer is determined by the temperature of the surrounding seawater at the time of its formation. In this study, Herbert's team conducted a growth experiment using live barnacles to read their chemical composition and unlock temperature records for the first time from their shells.

After the experiment, they applied this method to the barnacle attached to MH370. With the help of barnacle experts and oceanographers from the University of Galway in Ireland, they successfully reconstructed part of the drift path by combining the ocean temperature records of barnacles with oceanographic models.

Herbert said, "Unfortunately, the largest and oldest barnacles have not yet been studied, but through this study, we have demonstrated that this method can be used for barnacles that adhere to debris shortly after a plane crash, rebuilding a complete drift path, and ultimately finding the crash site

So far, the search for MH370 flight has extended for thousands of miles along a north-south corridor called the "seventh arc". Investigators believe that this corridor may be the route for planes to taxi after running out of fuel. Herbert stated that due to the rapid variation of ocean temperature along an arc, this method can accurately reveal the position of aircraft.

Herbert revealed that French scientist Joseph Poupin was one of the earliest biologists to inspect the flaps and ailerons of airplanes. He concluded that the largest barnacle attached to the wreckage may have been old enough to parasitize on the wreckage shortly after the plane crashed, and is very close to the actual crash site.

If that's the case, the temperatures recorded in these barnacles can help investigators narrow their search range, "Herbert said. Even if the plane is not on the arc, studying the oldest and largest barnacles can still narrow the search range.

Dr. Nassar Al Qattan, a geophysicist at the University of South Florida who helped analyze rattan, said, "This plane disappeared more than 9 years ago. We are introducing a new method to help resume search work suspended in January 2017, which may bring some comfort to the families of passengers on the missing plane

Related paper information:

https://doi.org/10.1029/2023AV000915

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