A joint Purdue University and Archaeological Legacy Institute expedition has begun an underwater search for Amelia Earhart’s missing Lockheed Electra 10-E in the lagoon at Nikumaroro, Kiribati. The 17-person Taraia Object team reached the remote Phoenix Islands atoll after an 830-nautical-mile voyage from Tarawa and started investigating the suspected anomaly on 14 October, using marine survey equipment to determine whether it is aircraft wreckage.
Led by Archaeological Legacy Institute executive director Rick Pettigrew, the expedition is examining an object near the Taraia Peninsula, about 10 feet from the lagoon shore. The feature was identified in satellite imagery in 2020 and is also visible in aerial photographs dating from 1938. Its identity remains unconfirmed and it could be a natural feature or unrelated debris.
Initial work is using a magnetometer to detect ferrous material and side-scan sonar to map objects beneath the lagoon floor. Although the Electra was constructed largely from aluminium, steel cabling and other components could produce magnetic readings. Depending on the tide, the target may lie in as little as five feet of water, beneath sediment of unknown depth. A hydroprobe and water-induction dredge may be used later to assess and expose it.
The expedition is expected to conduct fieldwork for several days as part of a wider journey lasting roughly three weeks. It is the 20th organised search for Earhart’s aircraft and the first authorised visit to Nikumaroro in seven years. Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in July 1937 while attempting to fly around the world.