Bob Ballard to search for Earhart plane

[Greg Daspit]

I'm puzzled by what the icons represent on the map too. If you change the map setting from Standard to Navionics at the upper right you can see(as of the past few hours) the red triangle and blue dot are on the reef flat, SE of the Norwich City wreck.  If that position is accurate, I think it's too shallow to be the Nautilus. The red triangle also labels as "yacht/ sailing vessel" and the blue dot labels as "other type/ auxiliary" when you pass the cursor over it. There is another icon for an unknown ship that's been about 62 NM W/SW for a while.

[Ricker H Jones]

I believe the blue dot represents the satellite position.
Rick

[Ric Gillespie]

I don't know any more than you guys about what Nautilus doing, but I can't make sense of the AIS positions for the arrow head and the blue dot as of 10:00am Eastern time today.
The attached overlay of a satellite image on the "standard map" shows the arrow head close in to the reef edge just off Tatiman Passage.  That can't be Nautilus.  Waaay too close to the reef.  The blue dot could be Nautilus but it's way south of our primary search area west of the Bevington Object location (Bev).

A similar overlay of the AIS "navionics" map shows the arrow head up on the reef flat and the blue dot virtually at the reef edge.

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

Hi Marty:

Thanks for the tip on tracking the AIS beacons of the ships.

I'm not the source.  I was just forwarding the post from email. 

I don't know whether our correspondent has signed up with TIGHAR so that he can post in his own name ...

[Ric Gillespie]

I don't know whether our correspondent has signed up with TIGHAR so that he can post in his own name ...

Not yet.

[Greg Daspit]

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-174.539/centery:-4.664/zoom:15
This site has at least one ship in a place that makes sense. Maybe the other is a small boat for land team operations?

[Ric Gillespie]

Maybe the other is a small boat for land team operations?

The land team is on a separate ship due to arrive late tomorrow.

[Randy Jacobson]

Question:
In all of the news and media reports about this search, I have yet to see a reference to Kiribati approval and/or a representative aboard the vessel, which every TIGHAR trip had to have.  I would hope NG and company would do so, but it does seem to be politically insensitive to not mention the governing and sanctioning body for the trip.  Or...did I miss something entirely?

[Ric Gillespie]

Or...did I miss something entirely?

No, you didn't miss anything.  None of the press reports I've seen mention that Ballard and National Geographic had to get a permit from the government of Kiribati or that Kiribati required that they have an official letter of approval from TIGHAR before the permit was granted.  There is a Kiribati representative aboard Nautilus.

[Greg Daspit]

On the Marine Traffic site the magenta icon listed as "Pleasure craft" might be the ROV going into or coming out of the water, maybe the ROV or a skiff helping it in and out? Because it does not get location updates for long periods. It stays on the map in its last known location though.
The cyan colored icon labeled "Tugs & Special Craft" gets updated pretty regular so must be the Nautilus. Plus if you check Nautilus by name it has the same color and ship type label. Only searching it that way gave very outdated update on location.

[John Balderston]

A Nat Geo online article posted within the last hour (https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/exclusive-inside-the-search-for-amelia-earharts-airplane/ar-AAFHs67) provides insight into the multiple vessel symbology:

Paragraph 18, below the photo of AE and FN, and an advert . . . "Once the Nautilus arrived at the island, a routine quickly developed: Send out the ASV (essentially a robot boat) to map the terrain near the surf."

[John Balderston]

A NYT article just posted provides a good overview of the search and credits Ric and TIGHAR for Niku hypothesis - cool pictures too - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/science/amelia-earhart-search-robert-ballard.html

[Ric Gillespie]

A Nat Geo online article posted within the last hour (https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/exclusive-inside-the-search-for-amelia-earharts-airplane/ar-AAFHs67) provides insight into the multiple vessel symbology:

The good news is, he's searching visually with the ROVs, not relying on side-scan like they did when looking for the Samoan Clipper.  They can only do towed-array side-scan which doesn't work on the steep slope. They've already found one thing - a metal tube that turned out to be part of some kind of "oceanographic equipment".  (I wonder if it's the sonar fish Oceaneering lost during our 1991 expedition.)  They'll probably come across the fishing nets and wine bottles we've seen.  Keep an eye out for banjos.

[John Balderston]

University of New Hampshire article posted today profiles the autonomous surface vessel (ASV)  - https://www.unh.edu/unhtoday/news/release/2019/08/13/unh-technology-helps-map-way-solve-mystery-pilot-amelia-earhart

[Guido Almekinders]

Interesting plots of the search on https://twitter.com/LabratSR