A 6-second signal recently discovered by British scientists from Cardiff University could finally solve the mystery of Malaysia Airlines' missing flight MH370 more than 10 years ago.
MH370 disappeared while traveling from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Beijing (China) on March 8, 2014, with 239 passengers and crew. So far, both the plane and the passengers have not been found.
However, now, after analyzing hydrophone data, scientists from Cardiff University have discovered a 6-second signal recorded around the time MH370 of Malaysia Airlines disappeared on radar screens. Hydrophone is an underwater microphone used by hydrophone stations around the world to record underwater sound signals.
According to the Telegraph, researchers believe the 6-second signal was recorded when the plane was believed to have run out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean.
This hypothesis is quite firm. According to the Telegraph, a 200-ton plane that falls at a speed of 200 meters per second will release momentum equivalent to a small earthquake. This would be large enough to be recorded using hydrophones thousands of kilometers away.
Fortunately, two such underwater hydrophones were placed in that area. One is in Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia and the other is in the British territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
There is only one problem. The signal that Cardiff University researchers identified was recorded at the Cape Leeuwin tropical depression, but it was not detected at the Diego Garcia tropical depression.
Given the sensitivity of the underwater hydrophone, it is unlikely that a large plane that collides with the ocean surface will leave any trace of detectable pressure, especially with the hydrophone nearby, says Dr Usama Kadri.
To analyze the sound signal more deeply, the explosions controlled along the "seventh arc" (understood as a location within 120 km of MH370's last estimated location in the Indian Ocean) could help determine the origin, similar to the explosions carried out on Argentina's ARA San Juan Submarine.
ARA San Juan went missing in November 2017 and the final underwater signal helped find the Submarine.
A similar explosion, using explosives or air guns, could be carried out along the 7th arc, suggests Dr Kadri. If the signals from these explosions match the signals of interest, it will support the search in the future.
Previous searches for MH370 show the plane deviating southwest over the Indian Ocean. Despite international search efforts, including an underwater search near the seventh bow, the main debris of the plane has not been found although smaller pieces believed to be of MH370 have washed up on the coast at various locations.
