Despite investigators announcing that the plane crashed in the Indian ocean, there are still many qu

British satellite company Inmarsat's Chris McLaughlin explains continental airlines reservations how scientists were able to work out the final flight path of the missing plane, flight MH370. Using models of the last signals sent from the Boeing 777 and comparing that with previous Malaysia Airlines data, they were able to narrow the final flight path down to the southern Indian continental airlines reservations Ocean
• Search efforts in the Indian Ocean were postponed on Tuesday because of bad weather. Malaysia called off the search of the northern part of the Indian Ocean and is focused on the southern region. Australian-led search teams are investigating a 469,407 square nautical mile area that is as deep as about 4.000 metres in some parts.
• Family members of passengers on board flight MH370 marched to Malaysia’s embassy in Beijing on Tuesday. More than 150 Chinese citizens were on board the plane and some relatives are suspicious about the investigation. About 200 people marched from the hotel to the embassy, many clad in shirts reading: "pray for MH370" and carrying printed signs saying "Tell us the truth" continental airlines reservations and "MH370, don't let us wait too long!"
• Investigators still don’t know the final position of the aircraft and an international working group has been created to determine where the plane hit the ocean. Inmarsat, the UK firm that contributed to the detection of the plane, is urging all commercial airliners to upgrade their systems so plane positions are transmitted to satellites every 15 minutes.
• Malaysia and China exchanged pointed comments about how much information continental airlines reservations has been shared in the investigation. During Tuesday’s press conference, Malaysia’s acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein suggested that false data from a Chinese satellite hampered the search. China encouraged continental airlines reservations Malaysia to share data that explains why it is so sure the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean.
Inmarsat , the UK firm that contributed to the detection of the plane, is urging all commercial airliners to upgrade their systems so plane positions are transmitted to satellites every 15 minutes. The Guardian's technology editor Charles Arthur reports on how they collected the data.
Since the plane disappeared more than two weeks ago, many of the daily searches across vast tracts of the Indian Ocean for the aircraft have relied on Inmarsat information collated halfway across the world from a company that sits on London 's " Silicon Roundabout ", by Old Street tube station.
Using the data from just eight satellite "pings" after the plane's other onboard Acars automatic tracking system went off at 1.07am, the team at Inmarsat was initially able to calculate that it had either headed north towards the Asian land mass or south, towards the emptiest stretches of the India Ocean.
Inmarsat said that yesterday it had done new calculations on the limited data that it had received from the plane in order to come to its conclusion. McLaughlin told CNN that it was a "groundbreaking but traditional" piece of mathematics continental airlines reservations which was then checked by others in the space industry.
The company's system of satellites continental airlines reservations provide voice contact with air traffic control when planes are out of range of radar, which only covers about 10% of the Earth's surface, and beyond the reach of standard radio over oceans. It also offers automatic reporting of positions via plane transponders. It is possible to send route instructions directly to the cockpit over a form of text message relayed through the satellite.
On Monday, Chinese and Australian search planes spotted several more objects in the sea, about 2,500km (1,550 miles) south-west of Australia, which could be debris from the missing Malaysian jet. An Australian P3 Orion aircraft located two objects: one was described as grey or green and circular; the other orange and rectangular. An Australian navy supply ship, the HMAS Success, could reach the objects within several hours or by Tuesday morning, Malaysia's defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
A Chinese spotter plane crew, meanwhile, saw two large objects and several smaller continental airlines reservations ones spread across several continental airlines reservations square kilometers, state media reported. At least one of the items – a white, square-shaped object – was captured on a camera aboard the plane. A Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, was headed towards the area and would arrive on Tuesday morning continental airlines reservations local time.
There have been several earlier potential sightings. On Saturday, images taken on 18 March by a Chinese satellite were released , appearing to show an object measuring 22 metres by 13 metres about 1,550km (960 miles) south-west of Perth. This coincided with an update from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) that a wooden pallet and "strapping belts of different lengths" had been spotted by a civil search plane.
Australian prime minister Tony Abbott first announced on Thursday that a “credible” sighting had been made in the Indian continental airlines reservations ocean, about 2,500km south-west of Perth, continental airlines reservations based on satellite imagery of two large objects.
• Relatives of passengers on board flight MH370 protested outside Malaysia’s embassy in Beijing on Tuesday. About 200 people marched from the hotel to the embassy, many clad in shirts reading: "pray for MH370" and carrying printed signs saying "Tell us the truth" and "MH370, don't let us wait too long!"
• Tuesday’s Australian-led search efforts in the Indian Ocean were suspended early because of bad weather. The search is focused on the southern part of the Indian Ocean after Malaysia called off the northern search. Search teams are investigating a 469,407 square nautical mile area.
• Investigators still don’t know the final position of the aircraft and an international working group has been created to determine where the plane hit the ocean. continental airlines reservations Inmarsat, the UK firm that contributed continental airlines reservations to the detection of the plane, is urging all commercial airliners to upgrade their systems so plane positions continental airlines reservations are transmitted to satellites every 15 minutes.
• Malaysia and China exchanged pointed comments about how much information has been shared in the investigation. During Tuesday’s press conference, Malaysia’s acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein suggested that false data from a Chinese satellite hampered the search. China encouraged Malaysia to share data that explains why it is so sure the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean.
Naval Aircrewman 1st Class David Everly looking for floating debris from a P-8A Poseidon over the Indian Ocean during a mission to assist in search and rescue operations for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Photograph: continental airlines reservations ERIC A. PASTOR/AFP/Getty continental airlines reservations Images
Despite investigators continental airlines reservations announcing that the plane crashed in the Indian ocean, there are still many questions about the investigation .The Guardian’s Jon Swaine and Alan Yuhas put together a guide for the major questions. Who will end up writing the final report on what happened?
Amid pressure from the US and China to allow more direct involvement by foreign authorities, Malaysia’s government has so far jealously defended its jurisdiction. Assuming that enough of MH370 is recovered to make an inquiry possible, and the debris is found in international waters, Malaysia is sure to want to oversee any official inquiry and final report into what happened, and why the plane apparently crashed.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation, which is part of the United Nations, has publicly continental airlines reservations clarified that the state of the airline involved takes the lead in the event of an accident in international waters. As a result, the official report on Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, was written by France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis.
Investigators have so far been searching an area far beyond Australia’s maritime boundaries , and it seems unlikely that the debris would drift far enough to alter this. If, however, the plane were to be recovered within Australian waters, the responsibility for an inquiry would pass to Abbott’s government. Malaysia would be invited to appoint a representative to the inquiry team.
In any case, those desperate to know precisely what happened may have to wait some time, however. The official report continental airlines reservations on Flight 447 was not published until July 2012 – more than a year after the flight data recorders were finally recovered.
One of the unique features continental airlines reservations of the Southern Ocean is that it is the only place in the world where water can keep on moving eastward without ever hitting land. Because of this, and the strong winds, the water is swept along at very high speeds, sometimes almost 2m a second. This is much faster than any other place in the world.
At those high speeds, the current becomes unstable. It starts breaking up and forms eddies. These eddies are similar continental airlines reservations to the vortices you may see behind wakes in a river or the spiralling and treacherous winds that can form behind tall buildings in the inner city on a windy day.
The difference in the Southern Ocean is that these eddies continental airlines reservations are much larger - almost 50 km in diameter - and they are not stationary but constantly move around. The ocean here is chock-full of these eddies , which can also extend down for more than a kilometre.
Malaysian Defence Minister and acting Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein (C), Malaysia Police Inspector General, Khalid Abu Bakar (L) and Malaysia's Departmnet Civil Aviation Director General Azharuddin Abdul Rahman (R) during a media conference in Kuala Lumpur on 25 March 2014. Photograph: AZHAR RAHIM/EPA
High school students hold candles during a vigil for passengers of the missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370 in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu province on March 25, 2014. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
The search for MH370’s wreckage was suspended on Tuesday because of bad weather . What will investigators be looking for when the search resumes on Wednesday? The Guardian’s Jon Swaine and Alan Yuhas have the answer in this Q A :
Should investigators identify flotsam belonging to MH370, search planes will guide ships