Signals cannot be used to officially verify the missing plane, and Air Chief Marshal Houston says he wants more. He says an underwater search can take up to six times longer to cover the same area as a search on the surface. "That could complicate the search because the silt on the bottom of the ocean can be very thick and things disappear into it and it makes a visual search underwater very difficult." "I'm informed by experts that there's a lot of silt down there," he said. Once the signal dies, an autonomous underwater vehicle called the Bluefin-21 will be deployed to scan the ocean floor, which is more than four kilometres deep.Īir Chief Marshal Houston says an underwater search could present its own challenges. Bluefin Robotics says its AUV can also be used for archaeology, oceanography, mine countermeasures, and unexploded ordnance.It has a depth rating of 4,500m, meaning it will be at its limit in the Indian Ocean search zone.Has an endurance of 25 hours underwater at a speed of 3 knots, with a top speed of 4 knots. It will first use sonar in the search and will be refitted with cameras if something is detected.
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) designed for deep-sea surveying.However the signals were becoming weaker, which may be due to the batteries running out. The Royal Australian Air Force is also dropping sonar buoys into the water to help pick up more signals.īoth signals picked up on Tuesday lasted just over five minutes. Up to 10 military aircraft, four civil aircraft and 13 ships are involved in today's search. None of the recovered items were believed to be associated with MH370. The reduced search area has also led to a boost in visual search operations on the ocean surface.Īircraft and ships reported spotting a large number of objects during yesterday's search, but only a small number were able to be recovered. "Hopefully with lots of transmissions we'll have a tight, small area and hopefully in a matter of days we will be able to find something on the bottom that might confirm that this is the last resting place of MH370," he said. He says once the search area has been narrowed down, searchers could then find something in a "matter of days". Search closing in on MH370 (John Stewart)Īir Chief Marshal Houston says the Ocean Shield will be looking to pick up more transmissions which would help to better pinpoint where the signal is coming from.
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