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[Steve D. Burk]

The TV show indicates that the AUV's sonar was used to locate possible man-made objects and then the ROV followed up with visual inspection.  I am unclear, however, whether the sonar provided any indication of a man-made object at the location of the latest debris find being discussed here?  Did the sonar cover this area, and if so, what did it indicate?  Is the most recent analysis based solely on the photo evidence? Thanks for any clarification in advance.

[Greg Daspit]

My interpretation of upper right object attached.
(edit: Of the Image Peter Kearney posted)

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

The TV show indicates that the AUV's sonar was used to locate possible man-made objects and then the ROV followed up with visual inspection.

Yes, that was the plan.  Military historians have a saying about plans being the first victims of battle, I believe.  Ric may have said something along those lines in the Niku VII daily reports.

I am unclear, however, whether the sonar provided any indication of a man-made object at the location of the latest debris find being discussed here?

Reasoning from the daily reports and a few comments from Ric, I think the answer is "No."  The high-def camera seems to have picked up these images while doing another search or as part of a final sweep of the likely area near the Bevington object's location.

Did the sonar cover this area, and if so, what did it indicate?

My impression is that it covered this area more than once.  It took them a few tries to find the Norwich City debris field (see the dailies).  These objects, if they are objects, were spotted by Jeff Glickman, who did a quick review of about 30% of the HD video in about three days time last week.  They were able to edit in about one minute on his finding, showing one image from the video in the TV show, between his submission of his report on Thursday (or thereabouts) for the show on Sunday.

Is the most recent analysis based solely on the photo evidence?

So far as I can tell, the answer is "yes."  I doubt that these objects, if they are objects, would have shown up on the sonar scan.  Of course, now that they have a location to look at, a review of the sonar data might suggest some other things to look at--I don't know how good the sonar resolution is compared to the size of the apparent objects in the HD video.

[Chris Owens]

Why don't you guys try your luck with these images?

gl

Gary, you know this is a family-friendly site, and you should be ashamed of yourself for posting such obviously sexual, filthy, smutty pictures.

 

[Greg Daspit]

Interpretation using 2nd image Peter Kearney posted

[Walter Runck]

"Paging Doctor Rorschach...........paging Doctor Rorschach!"

gl

Why don't you guys try your luck with these images?

gl

But,.... they're upside down!

[Kevin Weeks]

what is the highest resolution of this image available?? I would love to see it.

In the very upper right hand corner of the picture I am seeing something that resembles what I would think of as the inner framework that the aluminum skin would rivet to. possibly the engine nacelle?? basically it looks like a backbone and ribs...

[Kevin Weeks]

pardon my crude rushed artistic additions, but this is the object that I am seeing. An aluminum framework encrusted with coral

[Tom Swearengen]

geee---sounds like we need another symposium to get things clarified!

[Paul Atkinson]

Anybody else see this area in picture attached?  Just a shot in the dark but looks man made to me, sort of like a tail wheel assembly?

[Paul Atkinson]

A little more clearly marked as to what I'm seeing.

[Danny L. Holt]

Okay, first time posting here. Yup, I do see what looks like a tailwheel.

[Randy Conrad]

First of all, I wanted to express my thanks to Ric, The TIGHAR EXPEDITION CREW, PHOENIX, DISCOVERY, FED/EX, and those not mentioned for the hard and diligent work they done in the past several weeks. As I watched the documentary last night, I was saddened a little, but I personally have high expectations that in days to come we will know more than we've known before. Now granted, everyone is entitled to their two cents worth, and everyone is not agreeable. But, that is what makes this alot of fun and an addictive hobby. Anyway, the documentary was well filmed in my books and it was a major major tribute to Karen Burns. I know her family must be in tears after watching her part of the film. Her achievements to this project was more than anyone of us could have done, and as she did this, she did it with the utmost respect and professionalism. Definately, a loving tribute if I should say so myself!
  Anyway, I am writing today to see if Jeff Glickman knows anything bout this little black box in the left to middle-center. I pointed this out the other night on the forum, but the picture I used was more bluer than this awesome black and white picture. Anyway, I picked this out of everything else, except for the tires in the upper left-hand picture. Also, Ric as you mentioned in the film last night you showed images of the keel that sank during the shipwreck. But, I caught something as the ROV panned across the wreckage. Don't know if your guys missed this or not, but most wreckage is usually rusted and brown and broken, etc. In part of this wreckage I noticed a straight line of grey! This grey did not fit into this picture of wreckage for some reason. But, found it very odd! Anyway, how far was this particular wreckage from the debris field that Jeff pointed out in the single photo now being looked at? Are we talking yards, feet, quarter mile, half mile? Curious!!!!

[Danny L. Holt]

Ric, or others,

Do we yet have a map of the NC debris field in relation to other suspected man-made objects that have been discovered?

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

Do we yet have a map of the NC debris field in relation to other suspected man-made objects that have been discovered?

That depends on what you mean by "we," "have," and "map."

The Niku dailies describe three different methods used to search: sonar from the KoK, sidescan sonar from the AUV, and HD videos from the ROV.

I'm sure that Ric and the onboard team made all kinds of "maps" to help guide the search.

None of them have been published on the website.

After Ric's remark about security, it seems conceivable to me that no full-fledged map will be produced for public consumption for a while.

I'm sure you remember the story of "The Treasure Map and the Salvage Tug," a.k.a. "Famous Last Words," but for the benefit of those who have not read everything on the website, here is the heart of the story:

The “Treasure Map” article in the June issue of TIGHAR Tracks ended with an assurance that “…even if someone with lots of money and no ethics were convinced that we finally had the answer (to the whereabouts of the Earhart wreckage), it would be extremely difficult to get there ahead us.” True enough, but what if a lowly ocean-going salvage tug just happened to be trying to recover a grounded fishing boat at McKean Island 60 miles away, and what if the captain saw our “Treasure Map” article (which is also posted on the TIGHAR website), and what if the captain read that comment and said to himself “We’ll just see about that”? Captain Jürgen Ruh has neither a lot of money nor does he seem to be at all unethical, but he does enjoy a challenge and he is, after all, a salvager by trade. Having had no luck with the fishing boat at McKean Island he stopped by Nikumaroro on his way home and put three divers in the water for about 30 minutes along the reef edge north of the shipwreck. They didn’t find anything but they did recover a piece of metal debris from up on the reef flat. Jürgen emailed a photo of the piece to us along with a description of what they had done, where they had looked, and what they had found and not found. We, of course, expressed our regret that he had chosen to interfere with an archaeological site and pointed out that, had he actually found and recovered aircraft wreckage, important information would unquestionably have been lost. In the end, no harm was done. The recovered object is quite obviously a piece of shipwreck debris and Jürgen, having made his point, is hoping that we’ll call on him should we ever need the capabilities of a salvage tug–but the incident does point up how complete the worldwide communications revolution has been and teaches us not to make assumptions about the remoteness of Nikumaroro.

I doubt very much that TIGHAR will publish much of a treasure map until after the treasure has been found--if it is there.