The shells of Flight MH370 deepen the mystery

Reading Time: 2 minutes – Found on New York Magazine

Exactly ten years ago, on March 8, 2014, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing became one of the greatest mysteries in civil aviation. Just over a year and a half later, in July 2015, one of its flaperons, a characteristic wing of airliners, ran aground on Reunion Island. Thus it was proved that the flight had ended its course in the Indian Ocean. But the reasons and exact location of this tragedy remain a mystery.

The discovery of the wreck also sparked an investigation into marine biology, New York magazine reported. The flaperon in question was covered in barnacles, marine crustaceans that attach only to floating objects (algae, boats, etc.). Since the latter is usually a biodegradable body, the barnacles grow there quickly. On manufactured items, they can reproduce indefinitely.

Studies of barnacles show that these shells can be used “Forensic Recorder” Because their size, growth rate, and chemical composition of their shells vary depending on water temperature and marine minerals. By combining these measurements with ocean drift models, scientists can trace the debris’ path and pinpoint its starting point.

More questions than answers

When the flaperon entered Reunion Island, scientists did not know what the barnacles would look like if they had spent six, twelve or eighteen months in the Indian Ocean. The first phase of investigation begins: variations in size, growth and chemical composition are studied.

Then the analysis of the shells of MH370 begins… and contradictions follow one another. The thirty pieces of wreckage found show the barn to be only a few months old, while more than a year passed between the crash and the discovery of the first piece of aircraft.

Another mystery is impossible to solve: according to drift models, the flaperon could only have run to this exact point on Reunion Island if the area where the barnacle settled had been exposed to open air during sixteen months at sea. However, the latter only grow underwater.

However, the study of barnacles is, despite everything, an important breakthrough in the investigation of the disappearance of flight MH370. The Malaysian government also announced on Sunday March 3 that research that had been halted since 2018 should resume. New technologies used by the commissioned company, Ocean Infinity, should make it possible to comb the location area in about ten days. There is hope enough to dispel the fog that still hangs over this tragedy.