[Peetwo]

Pressure mounts on resumed search for MH370 - err maybe??

Via the other Aunty...

MH370: CSIRO uses French satellite images to narrow down crash site
By David Weber
Updated yesterday at 10:09pm Wed 16 Aug 2017, 10:09pm

Photo: The yellow line marks where 35 degrees south intersects the seventh arc (the black line).

The CSIRO has used satellite data provided by French authorities to further narrow down the area where it is believed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 crashed.

The CSIRO and Geoscience Australia have analysed images of objects in the Indian Ocean, which were taken about two weeks after the plane disappeared on March 8, 2014.

The CSIRO report's co-author, oceanographer David Griffin explained why they were only analysed recently.

"In 2014 some satellites saw some items on the surface, but at that point there were lots of sightings from the satellites and none of those turned out to actually be relevant," he said.

"So that information was set aside. More recently, we've focused in on this area near 35 [degrees] south."

'Impossible to be sure' objects from MH370

Geoscience Australia has determined 12 of the objects were probably manmade.
Dr Griffin said they were seen 200 kilometres west of the "seventh arc", where it is thought the plane crashed.

"The question is how could something drift 200 kilometres west? And the answer is that we know that there is a narrow ocean current at that point, at that time which would explain why bits of the plane could be seen by satellite," he said.

The CSIRO said if the objects were from a plane, drift analysis was consistent with an area determined as having the highest probability of containing wreckage.

Its report said: "We think it is possible to identify a most likely location of the aircraft, with unprecedented precision and certainty. This location is 35.6 [degrees south], 92.8 [degrees east]."

It went on to say other nearby locations were "certainly possible" with a "high degree of confidence that an impact in the southern half of the 2016-proposed search area" was more consistent with debris in the images than an impact in the northern half.

However, Dr Griffin said it could not be determined for sure that the objects were from MH370, or any plane.

"No, that's the kicker, is that it's impossible to be totally sure that they are from the plane, but the thing is that they are not natural items; they are large objects which clearly are not wave caps.

"They are in the area where we expect to see debris if we are right about where the plane hit the water.

"If you assume that they are then they definitely do help refine our estimate of where the plane hit the water."

Dr Griffin said the only places left to search were close to what's already been covered.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has advised caution, saying the objects had not been identified as being from MH370.

It said the CSIRO's drift study found the believed location of the objects identified in most of the satellite images on March 8 was consistent with the area determined by experts in the First Principles Review.

The bureau's chief commissioner Greg Hood said the information in the Geoscience and CSIRO reports "may be useful in informing any further search effort that may be mounted in the future".

The Federal Government said Malaysia was the lead investigator.

The foreword of the CSIRO's report said: "This work is dedicated to the 239 people aboard flight MH370".

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Via the Oz:

Breakthrough in hunt for MH370

Flight MH370 was a Boeing 777.

• The Australian
  
• 4:11PM August 16, 2017
  

New evidence released by the air safety bureau may have determined the area in which MH370 disappeared three and a half years ago.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has released a pair of reports which analysed data gathered during the search for the Malaysian Airlines flight.

They feature satellite images and drift modelling from debris washed up in the Western Indian Ocean.

That drift modelling initially released late last year identified a new area of 25,000sq km just outside the original search area.

The CSIRO’s reverse drift modelling have now refined down to an area of 5000sq km, isolating the most likely location of MH370.

• read more
  
• MH370 site a crime scene
  

Greg Hood, Chief Commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), urged caution on the new findings.

The MH370 search area has been narrowed down.

“Clearly we must be cautious,” Mr Hood said. “These objects have not been definitely identified as MH370 debris.”

“Geoscience Australia identified a number of objects in the satellite imagery which have been classified as probably man-made.

“The image resolution is not high enough to be certain whether the objects originated from MH370 or are other objects that might be found floating in oceans around the world.”

The ATSB reports here

Images taken by a French Military satellite show apparent debris were discarded by governments and authorities in late March 2014 - before the ATSB became involved in the search.

The area covered by the imagery was not one that was searched from the air at that time, but is close to the underwater search area.

GeoScience Australia has been examining satellite images taken in the weeks after the loss of MH370 in an area identified last year and found 12 objects considered to be man made, and 28 possibly man made.

Mr Hood said “the information contained within the Geoscience Australia and CSIRO reports may be useful in informing any further search effort that may be mounted in the future”.

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Satellite images narrow MH370’s crash zone

• The Australian
  
  
• 12:00AM August 17, 2017
  
• EMILY RITCHIE
  
  Journalist
  Sydney
  @emritchiejourno
  [img=0x0]https://i1.wp.com/pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/author/3bdbf7775ed466c42fa0795ff09415ea/?esi=true&t_product=the-australian&t_template=s3/austemp-article_common/vertical/author/widget&td_bio=false[/img]
  

Families of passengers on lost Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have demanded a resumption of the search for the jet after startling evidence released yesterday narrowed the likely crash site of the aircraft to two areas on the edge of the original search zone.

Four satellite images taken two weeks after the plane and its 239 passengers and crew went missing in March 2014 have been re-examined, prompting Geo­science Australia and the CSIRO to home in on two narrow strips, no larger than 10km-30km each, to the east and west of the original search site.

Their report places the most likely location of the aircraft “with unprecedented precision and certainty” at 35.6°S, 92.8°E — in the Indian Ocean, findings that are considered more precise than any previous analysis.

The Australian and Malaysian governments said last night the images did not constitute evidence that would prompt ­resumption of the search, which was abandoned after covering 120,000sq km of ocean at a cost of $200 million, $60m of which Australia contributed.

Byron Bailey, a former senior captain with Emirates who now flies private jets, said the ­Australian government and the ATSB should be “ashamed of themselves”. “What I can’t ­understand is why it has taken 3½ years before a French satellite’s images prompted action by the ATSB.”

He said he expected the plane would be largely intact and that the captain had had enough fuel to perform a controlled landing above a very deep sea trench.

The satellite images, released yesterday by the ATSB, contain up to 70 objects, of which up to 12 were “possibly man-made”, ­according to Geoscience Australia. Their dimensions match some of the plane debris that washed up on African beaches last year.

The images were acquired with the help of French authorities, taken in the southern Indian Ocean within a 25,000sq km area on the periphery of the original search area.

Victorian Jennifer Chong, whose husband Chong Ling Tan was onboard MH370, said yesterday she and other families of MH370 victims would be calling on both the Malaysian and Australian governments to re-­establish a search.

“This certainly warrants a new search,” Ms Chong said. “I think it is really interesting that they’ve only discovered this now, three years after, even though the ­images were taken shortly after the incident. My first response is anger because they’ve had these images for such a long time.”

Ms Chong added she was grateful the incident was still being investigated, even after the underwater search was abandoned in January. 

Geoscience Australia received the images from the ATSB for analysis on March 23 and considers 12 objects to be man-made, and 28 possibly man-made.

An ATSB spokesman said this satellite imagery reanalysis was part of a systematic process of ­review that commenced last year.

Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester said he welcomed the new reports, but added it was important to note they did “not provide new evidence leading to a specific location of MH370”.

“Malaysia is the lead investigator and any future requests in relation to searching for MH370 would be considered by Australia at that time,” Mr Chester said.

Malaysian Transport Minister Dato Sri Liow Tiong said the newly defined area was not enough to go on and it was hoped debris-drift modelling would help narrow the location further.

Investigators have known for two years that the plane crashed somewhere along a line known as the seventh arc, to the west of Western Australia.

According to the CSIRO drift report, the new debris was located near the seventh arc, which made it “impossible to ignore”.

The plane would “most likely” be located in two narrow (10km-30km) strips east and west of the completed search area.

ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood urged caution on the new findings. “These objects have not been definitely identified as MH370 debris,” Mr Hood said. “Geoscience Australia identified a number of objects in the satellite imagery which have been classified as probably man-made. The image resolution is not high enough to be certain whether the objects originated from MH370 or are other objects that might be found floating in oceans around the world.”

The images, taken by a French Military satellite, show apparent debris that was disregarded by governments and authorities in late March 2014 — before the ATSB became involved in the search.

CSIRO oceanographer David Griffin said this was because countless other photos of debris uncovered at the time led to fruitless searches.

Is it just me (& Byron bailey)?? - Don't you think it is passing strange that at virtually the same time as the public exposure of Ocean Infinity 'no find, no fee' offer to the Malaysian Government, that this latest ATSB/CSIRO/GeoScience findings is also made public?

So these SAT Phots are nearly 3.5 years old and they have just (23 March 2017 received by GA) analysed them...

Also with a quick check to when that Geoscience Australia report was copied to PDF - Download Geoscience Australia satellite imagery analyses report [ Download PDF: 17.14MB] - it would appear that the ATSB/CSIRO etc. have sat on the report for more than 2 weeks...WTD -   


As usual when it comes to MH370, something smells here...  
     


MTF....P2