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During flight. >> now that they have this, is there any reverse engineering that can go on? how helpful is it that it's 2300 miles away from where they're looking? >> the reverse engineering as far as the drift patterns, i don't think there could be anything conclusively derived from where it's located. there were two major, major storms in this period of time that went through this area and could have disrupted even what you would think of as the currents and because it's floating as well, even the wind currents can change the direction of the drift, which we may or may not have real specific...

Is likely to have entered the water. the information provided is the most credible lead we currently have in the search for aircraft wreckage. however, this information needs to be continually adjusted for the length of time elapsed since the aircraft went missing and the likely drift of any wreckage floating on the ocean surface. finally, let me stress that under international convention, malaysia has investigative responsibility for malaysian airlines flight mh-370. at this stage, the atsb's task is to assist in the search of the aircraft. [ inaudible ] >> this is the best estimate of the ar...

Refined analysis take you to a different place. i don't count the original work as a waste of time. >> reporter: i think it's important to note from the malaysian press conference that the objects previously identified, five of them in all, could still be valid. they could have floated given the drift of the oceans up into that search zone. >> they did say they could have traveled hundreds of miles since the satellite images were taken. the search area now continues to move it seems day by day. andrew, thank you so much. let's talk more about this dramatic shift in the search. joining me now, ...

The missing plane. did. and after doing all of that, now they said run the equation for the missing plane. and this has to be your answer right there in the bottom. and the yellow boxes is when you add in the drift patterns. it is mathematical detective work. and it's not that complicated, but it hasn't been applied this way before. i was talking to a professor at georgia tech who said this is pretty basic work, but if you extrapolate it properly, it should be rock solid. so that is how they managed to take a search area that at one point was as big as 20 million square miles and now down to a...

Find any sign of that debris. again, it gets under way right away. >> all right. nbc's sara james. great information. thank you. the object spotted a few days ago could have drifted hundreds of miles. and the search area is over a massive stretch of ocean. kathleen doh a,n is a research scientist whose specialty includes turbulence and ocean currents. she joins me from seattle. all right. let's get right into this question of the drift, kathleen. how does the oceanic drift and the weather factor into this search? >> it all depends on where you are in the ocean. looking at where the satellite...