with potential adversaries, for example. >> reporter: why did it take four days for the pictures to go public? brown says digital globe would have first had to download them then send them via satellite to their colorado labs, process then in different formats then send them to the australians who would examine them frame by frame, pixel by pixel. if the currents are strong and the ocean is choppy, how do you distinguish between white caps and a crucial piece of debris? >> if you have a white cap like that it's much more difficult to identify a piece of debris so it requires just more attention and a lot more eyeballs to make those distinctions. >> reporter: and now what's making the search difficult is that the water has been really choppy. after the pictures were released, the search was hindered by low visibility and rough seas in that same area. brian todd, cnn, washington. malaysia says the search-and-rescue teams need more equipment such as pinger locaters as they try to find the airplane. andrew stevens joins us live in