Earhart expedition finds likely tree debris, not evidence of plane

An expedition to Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific found no conclusive evidence of Amelia Earhart’s missing aircraft, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. Researchers concluded that a plane-shaped feature in the island’s lagoon was probably tree debris.

The findings announced Monday leave unproven the expedition leaders’ theory that Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan survived as castaways on Nikumaroro. The initial U.S. government-led search concluded that their plane exhausted its fuel and crashed in the Pacific near Howland Island.

The Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue University jointly led the expedition, which included 17 researchers and technicians, ABC7 Los Angeles reported. The team reached Nikumaroro on Oct. 12 after a five-day sea journey from Tarawa.

The search focused on the Taraia Object, a feature first identified in satellite images in 2020. Researchers used a magnetometer to look for iron and sonar to examine material beneath sediment on the lagoon floor. They determined that the object was likely trees deposited along a peninsula’s sandspit; much of the debris had broken apart and washed away, according to a Purdue statement cited in the report.

Rick Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, said in a video statement that he still considered it likely that Earhart and Noonan reached Nikumaroro. The proposed landing site is about 400 miles south of Howland Island, their intended destination.

Dorothy Cochrane, an Earhart expert and retired curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, said more than 15 searches of Nikumaroro had failed to produce authentic evidence of Earhart, Noonan or their Electra, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. Another apparent lead elsewhere — a plane-like sonar target detected by Deep Sea Vision in 2024 — proved to be rocks.

Earhart and Noonan vanished on July 2, 1937, after leaving Lae, New Guinea, bound for Howland Island. Earhart had covered about 22,000 miles of her planned round-the-world flight, with about 7,000 miles remaining, the report said.

Nauticos is seeking $8 million to $10 million for another expedition near Howland Island, ABC7 Los Angeles reported. The company, which has conducted three searches there since 2002, has narrowed its proposed search area through experiments using a replica of Earhart’s radio system.