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[richie conroy]

thx 

[John Ousterhout]

Richie, you've made my day - that picture of Niku is spectacular!  The tourism bureau should use it to attract visitors (but don't show the coconut crabs, or the daily temperatures, or the complete lack of water, or...)

[Harry Howe, Jr.]

Richue
Outstanding Pic.  I swear I see an Electra in there and an oil slick from one.  Is there a date for that ISS pic?

[richie conroy]

harry thats wishful thinking 

what it does tell us though, is that were we think the Electra is, were we thought the reef edge slopes down to 1000 meters to sea bed an out.

its not if am right what Ur seeing is channels maybe a 1000 meters deep running from reef edge into pacific

[Tom Swearengen]

Richie my man---you may have made breakthough. if you blow up the pic, you can see the outline of the Norwich City, and north of that, what looks like deep trough in the reef. It would be interesting to take this satellite pic, and compare it to the subsurface pics from the ROVs on the past expeditions, and see if your trough theory is correct. I bet it does.
Tom

[Bill Mangus]

Good grief!!  Beg, borrow or steal a copy of the negative from the Russian Space Agency or at least have them make a high resolution print from it.  They'd be more than happy to sell it, I'm sure!

[Andrew M McKenna]

You can also see the clearing we did at the 7 site in 2010.

Nice photo, must have been an unusually calm day.

AMCK

[Irvine John Donald]

Great find Richie. The Russian cosmonaut who took that shot did an excellent job.

[Tom Swearengen]

Andrew----did you dive on the ocean side of the reef on your expedition? I recall you dove in the lagoon, but off the reef?
Tom

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

Andrew----did you dive on the ocean side of the reef on your expedition? I recall you dove in the lagoon, but off the reef?

Ric told me at an EPAC meeting years ago that TIGHAR divers have covered the reef face to a depth between 100 to 150 feet.  Tom King pegs it at 40 meters in the draft of his report on Niku VI.  A lot of diving has been done during the nine expeditions TIGHAR has sent to Niku.

[Tom Swearengen]

good info Marty---I missed it!
At least we know the electra is below 150 feet

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

At least we know the electra is below 150 feet

Well, saying that we "know" this requires a number of assumptions and qualifications.

What I feel confident in asserting is that the TIGHAR dive teams did not see big Electra parts in the parts of the reef that they searched.

If the Electra washed off the reef in the area that has been searched to a depth of 40 meters or so by divers and by the ROV to a depth of 300 meters, and if the remnants are still more or less in that area of the reef, then we know that the pieces are deeper than that.

To put it the other way around, the remains of the aircraft haven't been found where TIGHAR has looked.

[Tom Swearengen]

Great clarification Marty! After thinking about it, I 'assume' that the Electra is below 150 feet off the reef. Or parts of it anyway. I 'hope' its off the reef, and where the 2012 expedition can find it, along with major stern sections of the Norwich City. I 'hope' its down there too, and assume its on the bottom. Like I posted earlier, I hope the debris for the ship isnt covering parts of the Electra.
I just have wishful thinking, but i know that TIGHAR will find it.
Tom

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

I just have wishful thinking, but i know that TIGHAR will find it.

I'm hoping.

I've bet a lot of time and money on TIGHAR.

But I know that it's a bet against some long odds that can't be precisely quantified.   

[richie conroy]

is any 1 ere good wid photoshop to get better image of this pic

have opend it me self an there is deffo sumthink there