Unusual underwater noises might unravel the puzzle surrounding the disappearance of MH370.
For nearly a decade, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has baffled authorities. But a potential breakthrough may be on the horizon as British researchers track a signal that could lead them to the wreckage of the vanished plane.
On March 8, 2014, Flight MH370 vanished from the radar screens of Malaysia Airlines' control tower at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Since then, no concrete explanation for its disappearance has been found. However, new evidence may finally unravel the mystery.
Reports suggest that underwater microphones, or hydrophones, picked up a signal that matches the timing of MH370's disappearance. The Daily Mail reported this following an investigation by researchers from Cardiff. The six-second-long signal was interpreted by the researchers, who believe further tests are necessary to confirm whether it leads to the crash site of the aircraft.
Underwater microphones might hold the answers
It is speculated that the Boeing 777, carrying 239 passengers, ran out of fuel and plunged into the Indian Ocean after veering off course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing for unclear reasons. Since then, some debris from the plane has been found, but the exact circumstances of the plane's demise remain unknown.
The Cardiff researchers initiated their investigation based on the assumption that a 200-tonne aircraft like MH370 would generate a significant amount of kinetic energy upon impact with the water, sufficient to be detected by underwater microphones located thousands of kilometers away. Two such microphones - one in western Australia at Cape Leeuwin and one near the British atoll Diego Garcia - were close enough to potentially pick up such a signal.
Originally set up to detect violations of the nuclear test ban treaty underwater, these hydrophones are minutes away from the last known radar contact with MH370.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, researcher Usama Kadri suggested that the discovered signal raises "questions about its origin." According to Kadri, the signal measurement does not yet permit definite conclusions. However, he finds it "highly improbable" that the sensitive underwater microphones would have failed to register the impact of a large aircraft on the ocean.
Mock implosion with grenades
Kadri's team believes that further investigation of the newly discovered signal could uncover the mystery of MH370. Previous hydrophone recordings aided in locating the wreckage of the ARA San Juan, an Argentine submarine that mysteriously imploded and sank in the South Atlantic a year after its disappearance. The wreckage was later found on the seabed, 460 kilometers off the Argentine coast at a depth of nearly 88 meters below the water surface. Researchers achieved this by simulating the explosion of the submarine with grenades and comparing the hydrophone signals obtained from this simulation with the signal recorded during the actual implosion.
Kadri suggests conducting a similar experiment to locate the wreckage of MH370 if a connection is established, believing that this would significantly narrow down the search area for the aircraft or even pinpoint its location nearly precisely.
