NewsContent:2014/Day 011/MSM
Source: Compiled from several chronologies, listed here
News Chronology for Tuesday, 18 March 2014
- March 18, 2014
- - Hishammuddin said the SAR operation area for the missing MH370 covered the so-called southern and northern corridors - a total of 2.24 million square nautical miles.
- He said the search operation focused on four tasks; gathering information from satellite surveillance; analysis of surveillance radar data; increasing air and surface assets and increasing the number of technical and subject matter experts.
- Three million people joined in one of the largest crowd sourcing efforts led by satellite operator DigitalGlobe to scour 24,000km for MH370 SAR area as more images were added daily, including areas in the Indian Ocean.
ABC Australia leads a new search for the wreckage of the missing plane in an area 3,000 kilometres south-west of Perth, authorities announce.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the search zone would cover 600,000 square kilometres of ocean and was plotted using data based on the last satellite relay signals sent by the plane. Ships and aircraft from Australia, New Zealand and the United States take part in the search, which represented a narrowing down of the previous Indian Ocean search area.
The same information provided a mirror image of an area the same distance from the equator in the Northern Hemisphere.
The southern search included four Orion search planes from the RAAF, one New Zealand Orion, and a Poseidon operated by the US.
AMSA said the "sheer size" of the search area "poses a huge challenge" and the search could drag on for weeks.