Researchers say they’ve detected signal which could help solve MH370 flight mystery

To this day, Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 remains one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

10 years on from the incident, the plane’s final resting place is still unknown with all 227 passengers and 12 crew aboard presumed dead.

However, experts at Cardiff University believe they might be close to a breakthrough.

Thanks to a six-second audio clip, the team believe that underwater acoustic signals generated by the crash could reveal the plane's resting place.

Flight MH370 was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it strayed from its planned route and disappeared from all radars.

Official investigations suggest it ended up heading southwest over the Indian Ocean but nothing but pieces of debris have been found.

The researchers have turned their efforts to underwater microphones, called hydrophones, which capture sound waves and pressure changes in the ocean.

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'Such technology has shown promise in detecting pressure signals from various events, including aircraft crashes,' Usama Kadri, the study lead, wrote.

'These types of signals can travel thousands of kilometres, making hydrophones a valuable tool for identifying and classifying events in marine environments.'

For their study, Kadri and his team analysed data from two hydroacoustic stations 10 minutes signal travel time from where MH370 is believed to have gone missing. They focused on Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia and Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean.

Both stations were believed to be operational around the time MH370 was thought to have crashed.

According to Kadri, stations like these 'have previously detected distinctive pressure signals from aircraft crashes, as well as earthquakes of various sizes at distances of more than 5,000 kilometres away.'

He continued: 'The mode of impact dictates the signal’s properties such as duration, frequency range and loudness.'

It's hoped that from examining these signals, 'potential acoustic evidence' can be uncovered from the crash.

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In their recent research, Kadri's team focused on a specific time window.

He continued: 'The analysis identified only one relevant signal [...] recorded at the Cape Leeuwin station. But this signal was not detected at the Diego Garcia station. 'This raises questions about its origin.'

Despite this, Kadri further pointed out that 'a 200-tonne aircraft crashing at a speed of 200 metres per second would release the kinetic energy equivalent to a small earthquake' and 'large enough to be recorded by hydrophones thousands of kilometres away.'

Given how sensitive the hydrophones are, 'it’s highly unlikely that a large aircraft impacting the ocean surface wouldn’t leave a detectable pressure signature, particularly on nearby hydrophones.'

But, on the other hand, 'unfavourable ocean conditions' could hide or weaken the signal so much it can't be traced.

He concluded: 'So, while our research does not pinpoint MH370’s exact crash location, it highlights the potential of hydroacoustic technology in solving this aviation mystery.'

To confirm if MH370's crash could be detected, Kadri suggested setting off controlled explosions along the so-called 'seventh arc' - the area determined by the last communication between a satellite and the plane - to determine a signal.

'By refining our methods and conducting further experiments, we could provide new insights into MH370’s fate and improve our response to future maritime incidents.'