The search for Amelia Earhart’s lost plane continues in the South Pacific.
Researchers from Purdue University reached the coral atoll of Nikumaroro earlier this week, as they continue their expedition that aims to solve the mystery of what happened to the aviation pioneer.
They plan to use sonar, magnetometers and other techniques to examine the "Taraia Object," an unusual shape visible in satellite imagery off Nikumaroro, which researchers believe could be Earhart's plane.
The team began fieldwork this week, sharing in a post on October 14, "Fieldwork is underway on Nikumaroro!"
But severe weather on Thursday delayed the expedition from going ashore, temporarily pausing fieldwork.
Rick Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, said in a statement: "We understand the tremendous interest in what we’re doing at Nikumaroro, and we appreciate everyone’s patience."
"This is a complex scientific process," he added. "You don’t simply arrive at a site and immediately identify what’s there. We have to carefully collect the data, analyze it and reach sound conclusions."
Researchers plan to use sonar, magnetometers and other archaeological techniques to examine the object and determine what lies beneath the sediment.
Despite delays from the weather, the team is on schedule.
An update on the identification of the Taraia Object is expected in the next 48 hours, before the team departs the atoll.
As the expedition continues, Newsweek has compiled a timeline of the key events to know about Earhart's disappearance.
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Amelia Earhart Timeline
Amelia Earhart Disappears – July 2, 1937
Earhart disappeared on July 2, 1937, during an attempt to become the first female pilot to fly around the world.
She began her journey, alongside her navigator Fred Noonan, in Oakland, California in May 1937 and her flight route took her along the equator.
They traveled eastwards across the United States before heading through the Caribbean, South America, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia.
By the end of June, the pair had reached Lae, New Guinea, in what is now Papua New Guinea.
The next destination was the tiny, remote Pacific Island of Howland. The plan was to refuel there before continuing on one of the most challenging legs of the journey across approximately 2,550 miles of open ocean.
On July 2, Earhart and Noonan took off. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca was stationed near Howland Island to assist with radio communications and navigation.
But the plane never arrived.
Earhart reported difficulties communicating and indicated that fuel was running low.
Her final transmission, received at about 8:43 a.m. local time, said they were flying along a navigational line of 157-337 degrees, but did not give an exact location.
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Massive Search Fails to Find Them – July 2-18, 1937
The search that ensued has been described by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum as the U.S. government’s largest search for a missing aircraft up until that point.
The Central Pacific was searched by ships and aircraft.
But Earhart, Noonan and their aircraft have never been found.
Competing Theories Take Hold – From the 1930s Onward
With no wreckage found, multiple theories have circulated about what happed to Earhart and Noonan.
One of the most prevalent of these is the crash-and-sink theory, which centers on speculation that Earhart and Noonan, having failed to locate Howland, ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific.
Then, there are theories surrounding Nikumaroro, of which there are many. One of these, is that the pair followed the 157-337 navigational line south and reached the atoll. There is speculation that they then landed on its reef and survived for a time as castaways.
Other theories are more conspiratorial in nature.
There has been speculation that Earhart reached territory controlled by the Japanese and was captured, dying as a prisoner. There has also been speculation that her flight was secretly connected to U.S. intelligence, and that Earhart survived and assumed a new identity.
Though these theories have been pervasive, they lack conclusive evidence.
Human Bones Discovered on Nikumaroro – 1940
Three years after Earhart and Noonan vanished, a human skull was found on Nikumaroro, which was then known as Gardner Island.
The British colonial administration, under Gerald Gallagher, ordered a search which recovered skeletal remains and artifacts.
The bones were then sent to Fiji and examined by the physician David Hoodless.
Hoodless concluded that they were probably from a male.
The remains later disappeared, so researchers have relied on Hoodless’ measurements rather than re-examining the bones.
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The 'Taraia Object' Is Spotted – 2020
In 2020, researcher Michael Ashmore spotted what is now known as the Taraia Object while examining Apple Maps imagery.
The name refers to an unusual shape visible in satellite imagery of the lagoon of Nikumaroro.
Researchers believe that it could be the submerged remains of Earhart’s plane.
Looking back at older satellite images, researchers found that the shape had been visible in imagery captured in 2015.
That earlier appearance is significant. Researchers believe Tropical Cyclone Pam, which struck the region in March 2015, may have shifted sediment around the lagoon, potentially exposing an object that had previously been buried or obscured.
The mysterious object has captured attention because its apparent size, elongated outline and reflective surface bear similarities to parts of an aircraft fuselage and tail.
But its identity remains unconfirmed.
The Current Expedition Reaches Nikumaroro – October 2026
The expedition to Nikumaroro launched on October 7. It is set to take around three weeks of travel and research, Purdue has confirmed.
The search was first announced in July of 2025 but was delayed by the onset of the South Pacific cyclone season, which prevented a safe departure in that year.
If the Taraia Object proves to be the Electra; the mission won’t stop there. Further expeditions will be needed for it to be excavated and recovered.
"This case has taken a long time," Pettigrew previously told Newsweek in an exclusive interview. "But we have some new evidence. There’s an object visible in the Nikumaroro lagoon. Everything that we see indicates it’s very possible, perhaps even likely, that this is what remains of Amelia Earhart’s aircraft."
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Tony Phillips.