Chris pretty much has it covered.
During the last expedition, each team member was required to sign a non-disclosure that granted the Discovery Channel (major sponsor) the rights to break the story in the event we discovered some definitive artifact, so none of us could discuss such a thing, should it be discovered, beyond the expedition team, not even with spouses. I'm pretty sure Ric was prepared to confiscate all the Sat Phones on board the Naia
. All the non-definitive artifacts were open for discussion. Since we did not find a definitive artifact, we never had to deal with the non-disclosure issue, which as you can imagine could become very sticky.
I would imagine - I have not been privy to the negotiations - that all members of the upcoming expedition will be subject to a similar non-disclosure contract, which means that if the Electra or some definitive part thereof is found, we will all have to wait until DC (again a sponsor) breaks the story. They want to drive folks to their webiste with the news, and deserve that traffic given their sponsorship. DC will have lots of film of their own (as they had of our 2010 trip), that won't be released to the public, but you can imagine what parts will be included in a newly produced documentary or revamped version of the last one. After the story breaks, I would think that lots of information will be released to the public, and some if not all of the underwater video / data will be released by TIGHAR. I don't think we'll have to wait for Ric to complete a book.
Yes, the forum will go ballistic with speculation before, during, and after the expedition (hasn't it already?) until some sort of results get released, and then the fun starts. If TIGHAR announces a definitive artifact, it will be indisputable (made that mistake before), so I don't think there will be much possibility of debunking. If it is indeterminate aircraft wreckage, or some other non-smoking gun, we'll hear all kinds of reasons why we're wrong (WWII wreckage, Norwich City debris, Flight 19), nothing new there. If we find nothing, we'll accept that as part of the scientific process of discovery, but our critics will all say "we told you so". Not much we can do about that other than revise the hypothesis based upon what we do discover. Null data is still data, and not finding the aircraft this time does not negate the body of archaeological and archival work that paints the picture that AE ended up at Nikumaroro. We'll just have to widen the search pattern for the aircraft itself.
My understanding of the agreement between TIGHAR and Kiribati is that we've been granted exclusive rights to search for, recover, conserve, take custody of, and display any Earhart related artifact found within the territorial boundaries of the nation of Kiribati. If something is found in the side scan sonar survey, they'll go look at it with an ROV, and if it seems aircraft related, TIGHAR will certainly organize a recovery mission with a plan for conservation of the artifacts, which can be an extensive and intricate process to leach the salts out of the aluminum and halt the corrosion. Think major dollars and perhaps a couple of years to really stabilize what remains. I think everyone is imagining that the Smithsonian A&S Museum would be the ultimate destination for any definitive Electra artifacts recovered.
Meanwhile, the archaeology project on Nikumaroro will get really interesting. To me, once we prove she was there, that's the start of the story. Everyone will want to know what happened to her after the sound of the Colorado Search planes fades away, and I think we'll be able to fill that story in with enough funding and time on the island. I foresee a long term project with a lot of coral rubble being turned over by trowel.
Andrew
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