Experts use devices to monitor nuclear blasting to locate MH370, reports CNN
An Australian university is studying records from underwater listening devices in an effort to ascertain where Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 ended its journey, CNN reported.
The network quoted Curtin University's Centre for Marine Science and Technology, Alex Duncan, as saying that it was a long shot but worth a try at this juncture.
"One signal has been detected on several receivers which could be related to the crash," Duncan told CNN.
"Researchers are studying a very low frequency sound to see if it was the impact of the aircraft on the surface of the water," he said.
"Alternatively, it could be the implosion of parts of the aircraft as it sank.”
However, Duncan cautioned against over-optimism as the source of the noise could just as likely be a natural event.
"Low frequency signals can travel thousands of kilometres through the water under favourable circumstances," he told CNN.
He admitted that at the moment, the sound appears to be inconsistent with other data about the aircraft position.
The underwater listening devices being studied are actually used to listen for signs of nuclear blasts, not to locate missing aircraft.
It was a similar case with the data provided by British satellite company Inmarsat, which was used by Malaysian authorities as a navigational aid to locate MH370.
The Inmarsat satellite was a communications satellite, hence the technology was used for a purpose it was not designed for.
One of the devices, operated by Curtin University and located some 20 kilometres off Perth, is designed to listen to whales and other marine life.
The other is for signs of underwater nuclear explosions, one of 11 operated worldwide by the UN-chartered Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), which is part of the International Monitoring System.
Duncan said investigators may release additional information about their findings in the coming days.
Earlier this week, Australian authorities declared that flight MH370 was not in the search area in the southern Indian Ocean.
Flight MH370 vanished on March 8 enroute to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. It was carrying 12 crew and 227 passengers, almost half of whom were Chinese nationals.
A two-month search and rescue operation, the most expensive in aviation history, has failed to find any sign of the aircraft's wreackage. – May 31, 2014.
