Inside the Search For MH370

UPDATE: Australian satellites have noticed a large floating object along the southern route. Officials are marking the area in order to search for possible wreckage.

Twenty-five nations are now participating in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines plane that disappeared on March 8. The extensive search for the Boeing 777 was originally confined to the area south of Vietnam on the eastern side of mainland Malaysia. However, recent developments and radar analyses place Flight 370's last known location on the east side of mainland Malaysia in the Andaman Sea, completely off track of its original flight path to Beijing. As a result, officials have widened the search as far south as the Indian Ocean and as far north as Kazakhstan. In all, the search area includes 2.97 million square miles. This area is slightly less than the land area of the 48 contiguous states.

If Flight 370 took the southern route over the Indian Ocean, then officials believe the remains of the flight are within a 160,000 square mile block of ocean. The Ninety East Ridge divides the search area in half.  Satellite images are being scoured, searching for any debris floating at the surface. If debris is found, divers and submarines will explore any areas suspected to contain the wreckage of the plane. The average depth of Indian Ocean search area is 12,762 feet with a maximum depth of 26,401 feet.

However, if Flight 370 took the northern route through mainland Asia, then officials speculate that it traveled over Myanmar and China towards Kazakhstan. Myanmar is covered in dense jungles that house a variety of wildlife. The northern tip of Myanmar, along its border with China, is home to the Hengduan Mountains whose highest point is 7,556 meters above sea level.The Hengduan Mountains lead into the Himalayan Mountains, the tallest range in the world. Along Flight 370's probable flight path also lie deserts, including the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts. The Gobi receives, on average, 7.6 inches of rain each year. China's border with Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan) is home to more mountain ranges, most notably the Tian Shan Range. Searching each mountain,valley, and desert leaves those searching with a very difficult task.China has deployed 21 satellites for scouring this possible northern route.