The hunt for the wreckage of AirAsia flight QZ8501 is now a broader one, reports the BBC, with the head of Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency today announcing that due to strong currents, teams are "adding to and expanding the priority search area." There are dozens of ships and aircraft pitching in (including, as of today, a US navy vessel) and searching a part of the Java Sea that's flat-bottomed and just 130 feet deep. So why has the plane proved so elusive? Blame Mother Nature and the season, mostly:
- Had the crash occurred in summer, the wreckage could have potentially been visible with the naked eye. But the Asian winter monsoon "turns the Java Sea into a tempestuous, murky soup," reports Time.