A US research expedition to Nikumaroro, an uninhabited atoll in the central Pacific midway between Australia and Hawaii, failed to locate remains of Amelia Earhart's aircraft after investigating what researchers initially suspected could be plane debris.
The expedition, led by Steve Schultz of Purdue University, was prompted by satellite imagery that showed what appeared to be a metallic glint in waters near the island. Upon arrival and investigation, the team determined the object was a clump of washed-up trees rather than wreckage.
"Unfortunately, we weren't able to find that smoking gun," Schultz said while standing on Nikumaroro's sandy shore overlooking its blue lagoon, according to The Guardian.
Nikumaroro has long attracted Earhart researchers as a potential crash site. The pioneering aviator and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937, during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe at the equator. Their Lockheed Electra vanished over the Pacific Ocean, and their fate remains one of aviation's most enduring mysteries.
The atoll lies in the Republic of Kiribati, within the central Pacific's far-flung Gilbert Islands chain. Over the decades, multiple theories have emerged about Earhart's final location, with some researchers proposing she and Noonan reached Nikumaroro and survived for a period, while the official US Navy explanation holds that the aircraft ran out of fuel and ditched in open ocean.
This latest expedition represents one of many organized attempts to resolve the question. Satellite technology and remote sensing have periodically generated leads that prompt field investigations, though none have yielded definitive evidence of the aircraft or crew.