Originally Posted by sSquares
Maybe someone can post the tracks but it looks if HMS Echo is doing a side-scan sonar run each time ADV Ocean Shield does a slow turn.
The AIS data is quite sparse - sometimes 7 hours between individual tracking points:
Ocean Shield
Echo
Even the highest cost AIS membership only gives 12 hour tracking interval.
You can
click on the vessel icon then "Show vessel track" to see last 9 locations mapped.
So a lot of the true track is hidden - one has to infer from speed & course.
Also the TPL is well separated from Ocean Shield. Echo is staying well back from the TPL when it is running.
The current interest seems to be near depths of 5,000m - 5,500m between -20.95 to -20.85 lat. and 103.9 to 104 lon.. That may account for suggestions this may be a very long process - it could be out of range of the Bluefin.
The seabed is sloping in that area so loss of reception may be due to that slope as well as battery levels decreasing.