# Amelia Earhart search: Nikumaroro 'plane debris' was a clump of trees, Purdue team says Source: Searchable (https://searchable.pk/news/science/amelia-earhart-search-nikumaroro-plane-debris-was-a-clump-of-trees-purdue-team) Type: News article Author: Searchable Editorial Published: 19 Oct 2026 Updated: 19 Oct 2026 Retrieved: 19 Oct 2026 > A 2020 satellite image raised hopes that Earhart's lost Lockheed Electra lay in a Pacific lagoon. Archaeologists found trees, a carbonate shine and one steel tube. **The object in a Pacific lagoon that researchers hoped was Amelia Earhart's lost plane was most likely a clump of large trees.** The team that went to Nikumaroro, a remote atoll in Kiribati, to examine the so-called **Taraia Object** said it found no conclusive evidence of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10-E, [Purdue University announced](https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/2026/Q4/search-for-amelia-earharts-plane-continues-after-taraia-object-expedition-on-nikumaroro-rules-out-latest-hypothesis/) on 19 October, local time. ## What the Amelia Earhart expedition found The object first showed up in satellite imagery in 2020, spotted by a US Navy veteran, and it appears in aerial photographs of the island going back to 1938. Its shape and shine had led the team to say earlier that there was "very strong" evidence it was the plane, [CBS News reported](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amelia-earhart-missing-plane-not-found-nikumaroro-expedition/). On the ground and in the water, it turned out differently: - **Trees, not wings:** the anomaly was most likely a collection of large trees deposited along the sandspit of the Taraia Peninsula. Most had since washed away, leaving a single Y-shaped piece far smaller than the shape seen from space. - **A false shine:** the surface that looked like metal from above came from a carbonate coating, and other objects nearby had the same coating. - **One piece of metal:** the team recovered a steel tube about 30 inches (76 cm) long from the lagoon near the peninsula. It will be studied with the other artefacts. "We accomplished our goal to determine what the Taraia Object was," said project director Rick Pettigrew of the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI). ## A short, weather-hit trip The expedition, run by ALI with the Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue University, left Tarawa, Kiribati's capital, on 6 October and spent five days at sea to reach the atoll. It had seven days near Nikumaroro, but only four onshore: CBS said bad weather kept the team on its ship for much of the time, and limited fuel and supplies ruled out staying longer. Maritime archaeologists, a terrestrial archaeologist, filmmakers and three representatives of Kiribati took part. ## Why Nikumaroro Earhart and her navigator **Fred Noonan** vanished on **2 July 1937** while flying from Lae, in Papua New Guinea, towards tiny Howland Island, about 22,000 miles into an attempt to fly around the world. Nikumaroro lies about 400 miles southeast of Howland. The "castaway" theory, developed since the 1980s by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, holds that the pair landed on Nikumaroro's reef flat and survived there for a time. Pettigrew still believes it, citing 1930s relics found on the island and human remains that were later lost. The other main theory is that the plane ran out of fuel and sank near Howland. A 2024 sonar image of a supposed aircraft near Howland also turned out to be a rock formation. ## What happens next Purdue, whose research foundation paid for Earhart's Electra, says the search goes on. The team thinks the artefacts may support the idea that objects drifting in through the island's Tatiman Passage collect along the Taraia Peninsula, which would make the area worth searching again. "She kept flying, and we will keep searching," said Purdue's general counsel Steve Schultz, who joined the expedition. The result leaves the 89-year-old mystery where it was: Earhart's plane has still not been found. For more from our science desk, see [Pakistan's first astronaut mission](/news/science/pakistans-first-astronaut-china-to-pick-zeeshan-ali-or-khurram-daud-in-october). ## Frequently asked questions **Was Amelia Earhart's plane found on Nikumaroro?** No. The October 2026 expedition found that the Taraia Object seen in satellite images was most likely a collection of large trees, not the wreck of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10-E. **Will the search for Amelia Earhart continue?** Yes. Purdue University, which funded Earhart's plane in 1937, has pledged to keep searching, and the team will study the artefacts it recovered, including a steel tube from the lagoon. ## Sources - Search for Amelia Earhart's plane continues after Taraia Object expedition on Nikumaroro rules out latest hypothesis (Purdue University): https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/2026/Q4/search-for-amelia-earharts-plane-continues-after-taraia-object-expedition-on-nikumaroro-rules-out-latest-hypothesis/ - Expedition to find Amelia Earhart's missing plane comes up empty (CBS News): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amelia-earhart-missing-plane-not-found-nikumaroro-expedition/ How to cite: "Amelia Earhart search: Nikumaroro 'plane debris' was a clump of trees, Purdue team says", Searchable, 19 Oct 2026, https://searchable.pk/news/science/amelia-earhart-search-nikumaroro-plane-debris-was-a-clump-of-trees-purdue-team