Scientists say that using robot submarines can increase the possibility of finding the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.
These robotic or unmanned submarines, also known as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), are developed for different functions like research purposes. Scientists use them to monitor salinity and temperature of wide areas while energy companies utilize them to survey the floor drill sites. The U.S. Navy also utilizes these machines to detect underwater mines.
However, before AUVs can be sent underwater for the search, the search zone must be narrowed significantly through the wreckage that will surface. Unfortunately, after three weeks of searching, there is still no debris from the missing plane surfacing from the ocean. Officials say this will hinder the identification of because its disappearance.
In 2011, AUVs successfully located the carcass of the lost Air France jet 12,800 feet below the South Atlantic two years after it disappeared.
"Air France 447 is a bit different from Malaysian Air 370 in that we had a few more clues to work with," Dave Gallo, one of the leaders from theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution to find the Air France jet, said in an interview with the Associated Press.
The search zone in Western Australia slopes from about 2,600 feet to 9,800 feet deep. A part of it drops into the Diamantina trench with a depth of 19,000 feet.
To aid in the search, the U.S Navy has deployed a Bluefin-21 autonomous sub to the search zone in Australia. This particular sub can search areas as deep as 14,800 feet.
Although subs can be very useful in locating underwater objects, the researchers would not know what they have found until the subs surface into the water again.
Chris von Alt, co-founder of Hydroid Inc., a manufacturer of subs based in Massachusetts, explained that the tasks of searching underwater using subs require patience.
"That's why you do it," von Alt said to AP. "One of (the reasons) is, 'Why did it happen?' But the other is to get closure for the families who have suffered through the tragedy."
