CNN Erin Burnett OutFront May 27, 2014 23:43:00
Inmarsat used to track this plane after it disappeared. these numbers were used to measure the way that a ground station sent a message up to a satellite up above the indian ocean, which in turn relayed that message over to the plane, electronically asking are you there and how the plane responded. and these 14 numbers in particular allow us for the first time to see the plane's movement long after every other tracking source had lost it. each one of these lines across here represents one of those electronic handshakes between the satellite and the plane. and you can see, if you look over here...
Source: archive.org