we are talking about the gyres. i want to show you on the map, we have the north pacific gyre.ot of the debris from the tsunami in japan ended up on the west coast. now we are talking from australia to west africa. it's possible. the oceans are constantly in motion and constantly turning. it's not going to flow in a straight line t. gyres flow in a circular motion. in the middle are small eddies and they can stay there for a very, very long period of time. the eddies aren't moving at a fast rate. things can get stuck in the middle of the gyres. we were talking months about about the garbage in the ocean. we can look for very, very long periods of time. other things get to the ocean quickly while others sit there years and years. >> i remember the garbage gyres, doing a story on that. they were looking at the airplane debris and it was just garbage. if there's more airplane debris floating, where else could that wash up know wrg the currents are flowing or could it drift on forever without washing up anywhere? >> it could. more could end up off the coast of africa. more could en

that has to do with the gyres. a gyre is essentially a rotating circulation as far as what the oceans are doing. they rotate in a circular fashion. the reason that happens is the earth spins on an axis. if it didn't we wouldn't have that. the north pacific gyre is the one responsible for taking the tsunami debris from japan and taking it to north america. we will focus on the indian ocean gyre. that is counterclockwise because we are in the southern hemisphere and particularly interested in the northern flank of that here and why debris would move east to west. you can see the movement has that counterclockwise flow. if you are on the northern side you will get debris moving east to the west. that's a general circulation but there are nuances with the with circulations as well. we talk about these eddies that sometimes form because of different topography, different is salinity. it will be nuanced here. as richard mentioned it will be difficult, regardless of that, to trace something that washed ashore in reunion a

and we talked a lot about this indian ocean gyre.s north and around to the other side of the indian ocean and so it's basically a big conveyor belt. anything that gets caught up in this could drift up and over towards madagascar. it's been quite a while. you remember back in 2011 after the tsunami in japan and we started see thing debris wash ashore on the west coast of the u.s. about nine months later. so that was because of the north pacific gyre moving from west-to-east. so it's something that we look at, of course, because that is what ultimately will carry things from one side of the ocean to another. but it's not that easy. very, very complex when you're talking about these currents. this is what we're looking at in the -- the indian ocean gyre goes around like this but you see all these little swiggles in here basically, depending on where storm is, depending on the winds, a lot of things can get out of that main gyre and get caught up in all of these little eddies. so that's what we've been talking about as well when the plan

i guarantee it didn't make a direct course there, so it's been moving around in a gyre and eventuallyblowing out and landing on the island. yes, there's more debris and it could potentially be on a lot of different islands but this will give us a starting point. >> we talked to david soucie about reverse engineering. if it is from mh-370 is there any way to track back to see if you're searching in the right area for the fuselage? >> you would think we could mathematically model that but it's been so long and so many factors involved we can't put into a database, the weather, everything that happened in a giant indian ocean. i would find that problematic. you can get some generalizations if you find more data but tracking it down to help the search site is just not possible. >> david soucie said there have been two major storms that have blown through since. what is the impact if you're trying to calculate where this thing traveled, what is the impact of a storm on this current flow? >> storm will last a few days. current lasts every day. it will have an impact. it will move it one way

you know, we were talking about these gyres, the north pacific gyre, but if we spin the world around, you can see the indians ocean gyre. this is the one that the debris would be flowing within, and you can see the counter clockwise motion that the indian ocean gyre is. we'll zoom in just a bit. you can see the search area and where all of this debris, rather has shown up, so it's very complicated, because this is the general flow of this gyre, but within it there are very tiny eddys, very small currents, so things could actually drift within it for long periods of time, years even, the stronger currents on the outside, but look, all stand within the gyre. you can see these very, very small lines, some of them barely moving. so things can get washed and sloshed around this for a very long time. however, it is possible that somebody were to start on the australian coast and end up in africa. parent that's exactly the way it would from east to west, rather, and end up possibly eve the coast of africa. >> fascinating stuff. all right, jennifer. i want to get more insight. once again our

this is the indian ocean gyre. the west coast of australia in a counterclockwise direction. eventually impacting and meeting the east coast of africa reunion island mauritius, tanzania. that is large and small-scale circulations this item may have undergone over the last 16 months. we have these drift analysises that we are going to monitor closely. let's quickly use an analogy. say we drop this plastic bot until the ocean and it floats like the device they found on the coast of reunion but it stops floating until it reaches an immoveable object like the coast of reunion coast of madagascar. this is where it becomes crucial to see where the debris can go. we have a high resolution and intellectual computer model from adrift.org.au. you can look it up on the internet yourself. if we were to place that device in the purported crash site all computer models conclude it will drift westward make that 4,000 kilometer trek just to the west. eventually ending up on the shores of east africa, or like reunion island for inst

there are these gyres.throw a bottle in the ocean here somewhere in the caribbean, it will eventually end up in europe. it's the big circles here these are the currents we talk about. it's the reason why there's a current that goes up the east coast in the first place called the gulf stream that keeps that water very warm there. so let's get to it. what do we have here? we are talking about the indian ocean gyre. this is a big one all the way across the indian ocean to the south of india. and all the way, yes, all the way to africa. i know it's very hard to put it in your mind how far this stuff can float, but i'll show it to you in just a second. there's a model out there that you can run yourself. you can throw a piece of plastic in any ocean and see where it will go. it's really cool. just hang with me for a second. there's the debris in australia in the water clearly for a very long time. it drifted across the ocean and eventually ended up over in the reunion area. this is a complete current that spins

you need specific equipment for going deep under the sea and looking at currents and gyres of the wavesris like this washed up. australian transport authority saying it is not inconsistent with where they thought the debris could end up, but it doesn't necessarily mean the entire wreckage is nearby. >> robyn kriel for us on reunion island. cnn on the scene and investigators looking at the piece of debris trying to confirm if it is from mh-370. robyn, thank you. anxiously awaiting word. the families of the passengers and crew missing since the plane disappeared. these folks have been in a state of limbo. >> if ultimately this is a piece of wing that little thread of hope i have been holding on to will have to break and reality will have to take over. up until now, i and most of the family members have continued to believe until we have a body we can't give up hoping they will still come back. >> for so many families, they made clear there will be no closure no matter what happens. most of the passengers were chinese citizens. cnn's andrew stevens has been in contact with the families ove

the gyres do so as well. the piece found on the beach on the coast was large enough buoyant enough to be carried by these gyres which control essentially the first 300 meters or so above the ocean current here. one we are particularly interested in is the indian ocean gyre and southern hemisphere. and things move toward the left in the southern hemisphere. wind direction, ocean current will be deflected toward the left here. on the northern side of the indian ocean gyre here is what we are talking about, everything is moving west. generally things undulating toward though west with. there are nuances with the ocean currents here. generally we have a west ward motion here. if you talk about reverse engineering it's going to be tricky. you have some eddies here as well. i think their best guess is where they have been looking over the last year and a half here. may not tell us much here but it is at least one of the pieces in the puzzle as far as the wreckage is concerned. thank you, ivan. >> so many twists and

so material that landed in that gyre could have been carried westward. >> given the speed of currents and the way the ocean moves there, do you have any estimate about how long it would take for something like this -- if it was traveling from, say, a couple thousand miles away -- how long it would take to get there? >> well, from the maps, of the probable impact point, it is over 3,000 miles of sea drift it would have had to undergo. the pictures of the part look totally covered with barnacles and other organisms so it was in the water for a long time. it is the missing triple seven it is over a year it's been drifting most likely. >> anthony roman, the search now, how do you think they should concentrate their efforts with this information? >> i think the primary search area was approximately 46,000 square miles. in 20,000 feet of ocean with a mountainous bottom. i think that will remain the same. they have completed 21,000 miles of the search. they have completed a mapping of the ocean floor in the search area. monumental tasks, but the primary debris field that would sink is probab

to if center gyre program. oakland 880 that is is looking very good northbound and southbound on the freeway here. there is road work from high street to about 29th. they have to narrow the freeway. if you look at the top left of your screen, you can see a couple brake lights scattered there. they should be done with that at 5:00 but we will keep an eye on it. and this morning's commute literal traffic jams. not the songs. this is a look at 880 southbound. you can see the road sensors are all green which the freeways at the speed limit. let's go to steve in the weather center. >>> thank you, sir. a lot of low clouds around. getsing a little boost from a system coming down from the north. that is picking up this fog bank. still some inland temps. a few more 80s compared to the last couple of days. low clouds. no drizzle yet. if you have some, you can always let us know. the low cloud deck being helped along. right there. that is it. that is it. that is enough to do it. you can see the low clouds. i'm standing in

>> wolf, the oceans are constantly moving, driven by huge ocean gyres. and it's one in particular, the indian ocean, of course, it floes and you have way from australia north over to portions of africa. so you would say yes, it's possible. consider these big conveyor belts that pull things over to the west. however, within those there are tiny little eddies, so areas outside of the main gyre. so you can't get caught in that as well. even though they're huge conveyor belts, there are tiny portions that things could get caught into. this google earth image i want to show you. this is basically where they are searching, so zooming in just a bit. that gray book is the entire search area, that tiny purple box, that's where they're surging under water. you look at the distance, 2300 miles, is not possible? yes, it is possible, and you say why is it so far from the search area? the plane could still be on the bottom of the ocean floor. that's why they're still searching, but anything that floats could be caught in one of those ocean gyres and pushed all the way

i also want to say that there are reports of gyres to chattanooga, local law enforcement officials thankfully as far as we know at this point, they have survived the assault and we want to make sure that they know we are thinking of them, they are in our thoughts and prayers. we take all shootings very seriously, obviously when you have an attack on a u.s. military facility, then we have to make sure that we have all the information necessary to make an assessment in terms of how this took place. and what further precautions we can take in the future. and as we have more information, we'll let the public know. but in the meantime, i'd ask all americans to pray for the families that are grief stricken at this point. and i want everybody to understand that we will be thorough, and prompt in figuring out exactly what happened. >> thank you very much. president obama expressing the nation's condolences of the four that were killed this morning in chattanooga just near downtown, this is the second of two shooting scenes. the first capable at an armed forces recruitment center, and you can see the

these are the five major gyres that exist around the world the north pacific, the south pacific, the north atlantic, the south atlantic. this is the currents that move the debris around the ocean and you have the indian ocean. look at that. if we put in play and we imagine now what we know anderson about where the search area is where the thing would have went into the waterer. i's not a leap of faith. it's perfectly possible for that debris to have ended up in the fullness of time on the western side of the indian ocean. >> and,yet, i mean if they're so sure -- you say the consensus is that's where the plane we believe the e went down that area you first showed and then that piece of debrisings i mean this is a pretty large piece of debris. you would think if it's iii the plane, then there would be other large piecings of debris. so why hasn't anything been found in that search area? wer is that they got there late, 12 days on. they think a lot of it had sunk. a lot of it just disappeared. but now we start to find -- you only need one piece. you get this one piece that may have gott

they look at the gyres and currents of the ocean and weather and various weather patterns. they say this is not inconsistent inconsistent. >> one of the areas where they thought it could be. robyn kriel for us on reunion island. great to have a reporter there on the scene. thank you so much robyn. anxiously awaiting word if this debris is from mh-370. the families of the passengers and crew missing since the many disappeared. >> if ultimately this is a piece of the wing then that little thread of hope i have been holding on to will have to break and reality will have to take over. up until now, i and most of the family members have continued to believe until we have a body we can't give up hoping they will still come back. >> it has to be so hard for family members. most of the passengers were chinese citizens. cnn's andrew stevens has been in contact with the families since this happened some 500 days ago. he joins us from malaysia. families this morning, andrew weary. >> reporter: weary and anxious and nervous. these are words that have been used in the family members i h

but this is the gyre very slow down. 680 looks good. all the lanes heading down to the south bay. we are looking at 580. we have slow traffic on the inter-- earlier looks good and then we push down to the south bay and you can see a little bit of slowing on 101. today's weather is going to be cooler says steve. >>> thank goodness. >> that is right. >> it was baking here, sal. we have a big, big fog bank even though the water temps have gone up. low and mid level clouds are inching closer to the coast. it will start to spin in more of these clouds. low clouds breezy to windy. afternoon sun and clouds breezy and cooler even for those far enough in. vacaville will cool down today. low clouds making a pretty good little push. almost every observation says cloudy. this low is the major weather maker. 50s and 60s. water temps so warm that the coastal temps are having a hard time cooling down. and cooler conditions well inland. half-moon bay and fairfield are the same at 59. that tells you there is uniformity there. breeze west, southwest. west at napa. west, southwest at concord. west a

it possibly could have gone around the gyre twice, as long as it's been. they did the math earlier, it only has to move a couple thousand feet a day and it can move this distance. so the search area is where it started. this is where it ended many. looking for more debris in this possible landfall is probably the next best thing, and really this is the first evidence of the plane. >> les, if this is confirmed as a piece of flight 370, it would rule out some conspiracy theories, such as that it was hijacked. what can investigators learn specifically from the wing flap in terms of what happened? >> well s. if you look at the wing at the flaperon itself, jake, it's impossible to determine whether it's a high speed or low speed, whether it was a high angle or low angle. the fact that this thing ripped off might be a possible indication, speculative at best, that the airport was banking in a specific direction. in this particular case the airplane -- this was on a right wing is my understanding, which may indicate the airplane was bavging to the left. maybe hum

and over the months that large gyre in a counter clockwise motion moved the trash toward the madagascar. >> do you expect more search teams to find more debris? >> i do. but it is probably well spread out after all the months. the final comfort will be to know that it did go down in the ocean. >>> we certainly give our prayers to the families. thank you for your time. donald trump says he'll be quote, nice and respectful to the other candidates in the gop debate. we'll talk about that next. i thought you said you were gonna test drive this buick first. i am test driving it. for 24 hours. where's the salesperson? at the dealership. nice buick! i guess that test-drive last night went well. actually, i'm still on it. you know, we're test-driving this buick for 24 hours, right?. yeah. so what are you doing? test-washing it. okay, well let me know when you're done, i'm gonna take it test-shopping. introducing the buick 24-hours of happiness test-drive. it's on your terms and a better way to take a test drive. dominique wilkins,ople, likare taking charge of famer ...with non-insulin of their

reunion is in the indian ocean injury gyre. it just keeps spinning.f five major ocean currents trifdriven in that part of the world. they can move at a rate of 300 miles in a single week. think about it, mh-370 has been missing for more than 70 weeks. the amount that that can travel in that time. thomas? >> certainly has reinvigorating the investigation. >>> we have calls for the u.s. dentist who shot the lion named cecil to be extradited. and these calls are growing louder today. zimbabwe's wildlife minister says extradition is being sought. a spokesman for the embassy in washington says there is still no formal request to extradite walter palmer. even though palmer hasn't surfaced publicly the u.s. fish and wildliver isfe service says it was contacted yesterday by a representative of palmer. on the white house website a petition to extradite the lion hunter has 167,000 signatures. well beyond the threshold needed for a official response. we are getting the first recounts of how palmer hunted his prey from a man who was his guide. details from nbc's

there are a couple different -- well they call them gyres but there are a couple different sort of circumstanceattern waves and one of them just a little further west of australia. that particular current pattern would take it to where this is. i've worked on crashes where parts have moved hundreds if thousands of miles and remember the japan tsunami part and pieces of debris from the tsunami in japan made it to the western shores of the united states. it's possible but boeing is the key. boeing will be able to identify this readily. >> we should know fairly soon whether or not it's wreckage from mh-370. thanks to you and david mckenzie as well. >>> we'll get back to the iran nuclear deal a highly contentious issue. we'll get both sides weighing in on what's going on and what's next. we'll be right back. listen up... i'm reworking the menu. mayo, corn dogs... you are so out of here! ahh... the complete balanced nutrition of great tasting ensure. with nine grams of protein... and 26 vitamins and minerals. ensure. take life in. >>> as we mentioned, the secretary of state john kerry is up on capit

. >> you're talking about the gyre that we've been talking about.rclockwise motion of currents that does move things from off the coast of australia toward this reunion island. how powerful is that current and where could it send other things? >> that current is the main driving force. hurricanes, other storms that come in and go will drive wind and wind driven currents, but the big heavy objects, especially that part of the plane, would be mostly impacted by the current, and so that's important. that's a piece of the puzzle that they can plug into the models because they know the buoyancy of that. if you find a cushion somewhere else, that's lighter, it floats differently, is affected by the wind, and i am shuure the australian university that's -- >> let's show them that. it's the university of western australia. they did the progression models to show from the point where the plane was -- went missing how the degree from up to six months and then where it could have traveled kind of the debris field where due to the currents where it could be goi

we know the indian ocean gyre can move a piece -- they bookended the place where the search could be. so what they're doing now with this little piece, the flaperon is trying to get any forensic evidence off of it. the front leading edge wasn't damaged. the back trailing edge was. that may tell about the angle of attack. the barnicles are interesting because they know where the barnicle -- that type of barnicle lives in the ocean so they can tell perhaps how long it's been attached to the wing which will give them information about how far -- how far it potentially traveled. but we are at day one of this investigation. >> and michael part of the potential evidence in this field of debris is this suitcase and the hope that maybe this suitcase was on this plane that will help answer a lot of remaining questions here. the man in charge of the investigation spoke earlier and said actually there's reason not to be too optimistic about this specific suitcase. here's what he had to say. >> there's much less reason to be positive about the suitcase. there's no of course indication it's been i

. >> as we learned about the gyres, there's a system in the middle of the ocean that churns from theralia coast and spits things out over at reunion island. was this always going to be a 500 day cycle? >> i don't know if it's a 500 day cycle. there were eddies and currents that could have gone around twice. the current model shows it hasn't. there are tons of pieces out there. what's changed in the last week is there's an awareness they are coming ashore in this area of the world. so people looking, finding, can bring this to somebody and say hey, this may or may not be something. post it online. >> like the suitcase. it is a suitcase. some place to get these things to. people will be aware of this now. >> here is what's fascinating. the university of western australia created a computer model, last year as you know that predicked these currents and that gyre would carry wreckage to reunion island in 18 months. they did figure out the time. low and be hold it pops up there. >> how long has it been sitting on the beach? that has to be figured out. >> can they figure that out? >> with

it's the gyre the motion of the ocean. i showed those circumstances lation circulations as round and they are not round. because the land isn't a perfect circle they wobble back and forth. how does it get here from here? there is a current. there is a current that travels just to the south of india and it would push it right here in about 14 to 16 months it would be right here where it is. now, there may be much more still in the current. this may be the first piece of debris we find. we just know this would be the first piece that we've seen so far and there could be some into madagascar and it could actually get around the southern cape of africa and eventually years from now if still floating it could get all the way to south america. >> unbelievable. so david, tell us how this complicates the search for the missing airplane if this debris is from flight 370 that is. >> yeah. and that's still an if. we need to make clear that is still an if but how it complicated is the fact that -- what it doesn't do is complement the

as the debris is coming around that gyre, as they pointed out, this this is just ha tiny speck of an island to have anything wash up. >> you agree, it's not necessarily a bat sign that they haven't found so far anything else? >> no, i don't think it's bad at all. i question whether the suitcase is part of this investigation or not. i think we were a little excited. some people when they saw it, but it would have drifted at a much different rate than the flanneren. >> a lot of people have suggested these two pieces of supposed debris, the flaperon and suitcase very different. it would be a huge coincidence if they both wound up at the same spot. that's why a lot of people are discounting the suitcase. >> you can say possible? yes. probable, no. >>> let's talk about this assessment that came out months ago, quloog it was likely that someone gained access to that cockpit, someone was in the cockpit who deliberately tried to maneuver that plane an hour after takeoff from kuala lumpur to beijing, make that maneuver, head toward the indians ocean, what do you make of this? >> well, it's a