malaysian flight 370, u.s.s. poseidon just finished its first search with no confirmation of debris. in light of the credible lead, extra medical staff has been added to the hotel crisis centers in beijing and kuala lumpur where the families have been waiting for answers about their loved ones. this is "way too early." good morning. i'm thomas roberts. it's march 30th. welcome to wait wait. today is the first day of spring. some of you may believe me. others may not. we'll talk more about our weather coming up but we need to start with breaking news as australian authorities announce they've spotted two large objects in the area about 1500 miles off the coast of perth, australia. the area in question aligns with

one of the projected flight paths of the missing airliner. it's about four hours off the western shoreline of australia. u.s. navy and new zealand air force are assisting with the search of this. john young with the australian maritime association spoke this morning. listen to this. >> the relatives are relatively indistinct on the imagery. those who are expert indicate they are credible sightings. the indication to me is of objects that are reasonable size and probably awash with water moving up and down in the surface. >> the objects in the satellite images which were taken four days ago may be difficult to locate now, but are believed to be up to 75 feet wide. there is reportedly poor visibility in the area and the waters are believed to be much deeper than originally thought.

young also spoke about what happens if the planes are able to locate and identify debris. >> the most likely scenario is that an aircraft will find an object if it is findable and then report back an accurate gps position and cast the ship to proceed to the area and attempt to see it. that would be our first chance to get a close-up look at whatever the objects might be and advance the identification of whether they're associated with the search. >> for more we want to go to nbc's kerry sanders who is live for us in d.c. i know it was roughly about 40 minutes ago that you were able to confirm that the air asset that the u.s. has in the area, the poseidon was unable to confirm debris. >> this is a very high-tech piece of equipment, an aircraft that flies over the area with

ability with radar to see anything floating on the surface, and it was in the area for almost four hours. it sees a good 10,000 square miles. they have a general idea of the target area of where this is because of the satellite photographs. after almost four hours in the area they found nothing. that aircraft is now returning back to perth which is where it's based for the time being. there are some p3s which are similar aircraft from both the new zealand and australian na navies that are making their way there. i don't know their timetables, to pick up and look at the area to continue seeing. it's now 5:30 in the evening there. but really daylight or darkness does not impact the ability to see. but i think the real headline is that all the hopes that the satellite photographs indicated, that there may be debris from a plane somewhere in this target area about 1500 miles southwest of australia out of perth, after the more advanced equipment has

taken a look, they have seen nothing. >> kerry, we're looking at a press conference happening from kuala lumpur. john, keep me posted if you want to dive in to that. i want to ask kerry real quickly about the satellite images. the size of the objects, we understand one to be 75 feet in size, the other 15 feet in size. they're indistinct other than that. >> right. it's a satellite photograph, as much as they've blown it up and looked at it, it doesn't give a full detailed view of what it is. we would get a better outline and description if the p-3, p-8 actually were to spot it and get a good take of it. plus they can also swing back down at a lower altitude and use some of their high resolution imaging from cameras and take pictures there. but since they haven't found anything, they can't do that. >> kerry sanders, i know we'll talk to you later this morning. let's dip into the press conference happening right now

in kuala lumpur and listen in. >> -- issued by australia on monday was also expected to arrive in the area this morning. the royal australian navy ship is on route to the area, but some days away. the ship is well equipped to recover any objects. every effort is being made to locate the objects in the satellite imagery. it must be stressed that these sightings while credible are still to be determined. the search is a multinational effort. i will give you an update on the assets deployed. during the course of this operation the chief of the defense force has spoken to his counterparts from countries including australia, china, india, indonesia, japan, maladies, nep paul, singapore, thailand, the u.k. and the usa.

all were very supportive and offered assistance. as the focus of the search has moved from the south china sea and malacca, our counterparts have offered to provide whatever support they can. currently there are 18 ships, 29 aircraft and six ship-borne helicopters deployed along the northern and southern corridors. in the northern corridor, there are four aircraft, two from malaysia, one from japan and one from the u.s. in the southern corridor there are 25 aircraft, two from malaysia, five from australia, three from china, four from indonesia, two from india, four from japan, one from new zealand, two from south korea, one from the uae and one from the usa.

all 18 ships are in the southern corridor, six from malaysia, one from australia five from china and six from malaysia, it includes six helicopters, three from malaysia and three from china. until we are certain we've located mh370, search and rescue operations will continue in both corridors. i can confirmed they're sending two from kazakhstan. in addition to the assets i listed above, a number of countries in the northern corridor are carrying out search and rescue operations within their own territory. china is using every means possible including 21 satellites to search the area within its borders and is ready to send more ships and aircraft wherever they are needed. in cambodia, four helicopters are conducting search operations within cambodia territory. the laos airport is carrying out

search operations in laos. a malaysian representative is stationed to notify mariners and help with the search. the thai military are conducting search operations in the northern part of thailand with all available aircraft. vietnam are conducting search operations within their territory using an unspecified number of aircraft. together this represents a significant international force deployment and i am thankful for the cooperation of our partners as we continue to focus on finding mh370. families, the high-level team i announced yesterday is leaving for beijing this evening. i would like to confirm that representatives from the malaysian government spoke to the families present here yesterday. in addition, the prime minister's special envoy to china and the ambassador to malaysia will lead a briefing today for the families here in

kuala lumpur. also in attendance will be the department of civil aviation, the armed forces, royal malaysian police, ministry of foreign affairs and mas. a similar briefing will also be held for the other families. ladies and gentlemen, for the families around the world, the one piece of information that we want most -- that they want most is the information we just don't have, the location of mh370. our primary focus has always been to find the aircraft, and with every passing day, our efforts have intensified. yesterday i said we wanted to reduce the area of the search. we now have a credible lead. there remains much work to be done to deploy these assets and this will continue overnight. thank you. we've been listening right there to the minister of transport from malaysia talking about the muscle being

demonstrated collectively, from the collective force of assets put into that area. the ministry rattling off at least a dozen different country tas are all contributing assets to the search, focusing primarily with u.s., u.k., australian, thai assets, as well as the malaysian assets, talking about putting different royal navy ships into that area. as we understand, 18 different ships have been contributed to the area as well as the different aircraft assets distributed to the area. the most high-tech one being the u.s. navy's poseidon. as we've been listening, we know the poseidon went back to perth for refuelling. how much time can lapse between the refuelling and getting back in the search pattern? >> a fair amount of time. the plane not only needs to be refueled, but most importantly the flight crew needs to get

rest because they can't go immediately back up. what i am yesterday to determine is where the p 3s are staggering. i'm still trying to figure that out. it would make logical sense, especially since they can see with their advanced gear about 10,000 square miles. then they have a target area of where they believe this suspect debris is. so it's not as if they're now trying to focus on, as they were, an area that was 120,000 square miles. now they're working an area which is slightly south of that 120,000 square mile box that the national transportation safety board had laid out as a possible place where the plane went down. >> kerry, for the p3s, for our audience to understand, these are smaller aircraft, propeller aircraft, right? >> exactly. at first glance you might think it's not as good as a jet. quite frankly, the propeller

aircraft uses less fuel, fly slower but can stay in the area longer. it takes a little longer to get to the location. so they each bring a different capability. the p-8 is the most advanced anti-submarine aircraft that exists. it's used for submarine warfare. the u.s. military gear on board, some of it is so advanced it's classified. but it can look down. between the p3s and the p8 which were previously deployed up in the bay of bengal, they have come up with more than 400 hits floating in the water, things that looked like it possibly could be debris. it was just garbage floating out there. they spotted those items out there and were able to not only find them but discount them as any sort of wreckage from a plane that might have crashed. it gives you an idea of how effective this gear is. so it's really, quite frankly, discouraging to hear that the p8

had a target location where satellite pictures that the australians released to day suggesting there was debris or at least suspect debris, and then at the end of the day they didn't see anything. >> kerry, the confirmation of the at least indistinct images coming in on the 16th. we're getting this fact almost four days after the revelation of the image being taken. so the sea changes and the travel of this type of material, if it is any type of plane debris and the fact that it could also have been submergeds, do we know more about the depths of the water there? >> tremendous depths, talking two, 2 1/2 miles. that's important to note because really the goal is to find the debris that will then, if you can do some calculations with the currents and the sea state which is 25 knot winds and nine foot seas. from the time that picture was taken on the 16th to now, it may

be several hundred miles that the debris has blown to its new location and moved in the currents. the real goal is ultimately to make mayor way back to where the black boxes are. the there black boxes, the flight data record erd and voice recorder may answer the question of what happened here. you have them possibly submerged in depths of 2 1/2 miles, a little pinger going off once every second, very low frequency. but in the greatest conditions it could travel maybe 14,000 feet. if it's in 2 1/2 miles, you've got to be almost right on top of it and add to the fact that the temperature of the water affects the ability of that signal to travel. it's really cold water at 2 1/2 miles down. we're in the southern end of the indian ocean heading towards antarcti antarctica. >> we're also at the half life of the battery in the black box?

>> that's right. it's said to be about 30 days it could go longer, could go shorter. don't forget you're also expecting the black box which is designed to handle impact at 270, 300 miles an hour, it's designed to be flooded completely with sea water and to still operate and send out a little pinging signal. but that assumes the box itself is sitting with the antenna, as its were, facing the the side or up and not upside down. if it's upside down and in the sediment of the bottom of the ocean floor there, then it certainly restricts the ability of that signal to get out. >> kerry sanders, great to have you, thanks. still ahead right here on "way too early," we'll continue to track the latest developments about this debris of concern found in east australian waters in the indian ocean there. could it be part of malaysian flight 370? a lot to keep you up to speed. that story and a check of

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welcome back. breaking news this morning as the australian authorities say they have spotted two large objects in the indian ocean that may be part of malaysian flight 370. the area aligns with one of the projected flight paths. the u.s. navy and australian navy are assisting in the search. the satellites were taken on the 16th and the objects may be difficult to locate. here is what we do know. here is what we do know about these images. one may be as wide as 78 feet, the other as wide as 15 feet. poor visibility in deep waters could hinder the recovery efforts for those specific pieces if they happen to be debris from that flight. we'll continue to update you right here. we'll also speak with retired american airlines pilot flight instructor tom casey coming up

in just a moment. first we want to check on your weather with nbc meteorologist veronica johnson. i know this area is of concern to you as you're watching the weather indicators and what it could mean to the shifting water patterns. >> that's right. just to the north of this impact field, there's an old area of low pressure. so the circulation right there where we're searching now has more westerly winds. it is quite possible that off to the west of that area is where whatever that was came in or has been drifting from further off to the west. so the winds down there are very strong. you've got westerlies there on the north side of the i'm fact field more out of the east. again, circulation right there. the other thing is the visibility. that's what they'll really have to contend with, the visibility and wave heights. they're at about ten feet now. expected to increase to 16 to 20 feet for the end of the week and

beginning of next week. that would mean low visibility continues. right now it's down below a half mile, thomas. >> real quickly, back here at home domestically, surprise, surprise, today is the first day of spring. >> no, it's not. no, it's not. it's the end of winter, good riddance. >> some may not believe us. veronica, thanks so much. coming up, we'll have the families of the passengers, what's going up for them. they have been in grief over the last 13 days waiting for answers, any word about flight 370. we'll go to kuala lumpur for a live update. "way too early" will be right back after this. chunky spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. i tr ied [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. depend last weekend. it really made the difference between a morning around the house and getting a little exercise.

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welcome back everybody. at the top of the show we talked about the possibility of debris discovered off the coast of australia that could belong to missing airlines flight 370. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends at work the search is daunting. in 2009, debris was spotted after air france flight 447 went missing. it was not until two years later that the flight's black boxes were retrieved from the bottom of the ocean. we want to go to nbc producer ziad jabber. i know you've been following the situation with the families of those missing and this has been

taunting for them to wait so long for any type of word or confirmation, a lead in the investigation. how are they prepping families there in kuala lumpur and beijing, those who are waiting for family members to arrive? >> that's right. a pretty daunting day for folks awaiting any word. here in kuala lumpur, roughly a dozen families of chinese citizens are at the hotel not too far from the airport. they're awaiting any news out of australia. there's a makeshift medical center set up at the hotel with several ambulances on standby as well to assist the families should that need arise. we're hearing of a similar situation at the chinese hotel in beijing. each family member has been assigned an individual handler from malaysian airlines there to communicate the latest information to them. overall, the mood at the hotel is quite quiet, dozens of international media set up at

the hotel. everyone there is standing by for the latest out of australia. >> it's so hard to imagine there's also an american family awaiting word about their loved one who was on board the flight. ziad, talk about the fact that there are some families on hunger strike who were not getting information or felt like they were getting held back from leads. >> yesterday we saw the dramatic reaction by some of the chinese families at the press conference. those families were quickly ushered away and taken out of the view of the media. it's been difficult to reach them. >> that was nbc producer ziad jaber. i think we lost our signal. again, these developments, we'll continue talking about them on "morning joe." we'll have wall to wall coverage of this breaking news from australian officials where they

say in the indian ocean the potential for debris has been spotted related to missing malaysian flight 370. we're back right after this. the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans. if ...hey breathing's hard... know the feeling? copd includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. spiriva is a once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment

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rescue coordination center australia has received satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search for the missing aircraft, flight 370. australia received an expert assessment for the satellite this morning. concern to hold grave concerns for the passengers and crew on board and i must emphasize that these objects may be very difficult to locate and they may not be related to the search. >> all right. breaking news. good morning. it is thursday, march 20th. welcome to "morning joe." with us on set, packed house today basically covering the same story. former treasury official and "morning joe" economic analyst steve rattner. host of "way too early," thomas roberts. "time" magazine international editor bobby gosch. washington anchor for bbc world news