A 17-member research team organized by Purdue University investigated an object seen in aerial imagery near the Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro to determine whether it was wreckage from Amelia Earhart's aircraft. After a delayed journey and four days of work on the island, the team found that the object was a pile of tree trunks, with coral sand accounting for its metallic appearance in images.

The search did not resolve the disappearance of Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, in 1937. The expedition leader said the team had achieved its aim of identifying the object and remained convinced that Nikumaroro was connected to Earhart; Purdue said it will continue the search.