How was the search area developed?
The 2005 search area is based upon research conducted by the NOAA HAZMAT modeling group in Seattle, Wash., which has experience in predicting how wind, currents, and other oceanographic processes might move an object on the water. Their analysis of where the Alligator may have come to rest is based in part on primary source material documenting the sea conditions surrounding the loss of the Alligator.
