She vanished in 1937 while trying to fly around the entire globe.
.
.
Begin the day with a plan. Get the latest news delivered right to your inbox each morning.
The image was taken by an advanced underwater drone that scanned over 5,200 square miles of seafloor in the Pacific. In a statement given earlier this year, a South Carolina-based company explained this detail. The formation was detected within 100 miles of Howland Island, which is located between Hawaii and Australia - a region where Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were believed to be headed before they disappeared.
Despite the disappointing outcome, Deep Sea Vision vowed to continue its ocean exploration efforts. The company declined to comment on our request.
As we speak, the search continues for DSV, clearing almost 7,700 square miles - the mystery deepens with no sign of her disappearance so far. We invite your thoughts - could Amelia have run out of gas near Howland Island?
Who was Amelia Earhart?
.
Back in 1920, she got on an airplane for the first time and began taking flying lessons shortly after. She paid for the lessons out of her own pocket, using money she earned from various odd jobs, as confirmed by the FAA. She got her pilot's license and within a year went on to break the women's altitude record, soaring 14,000 feet high by October 1922.
In 1932, she flew from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland, becoming the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, confirmed by the FAA. She later embarked on solo flights that took her across the United States, another which took her from Hawaii to California, and further flights that included Mexico City and New York.
It was in 1936 that she began making plans for her most extensive journey to date – a flight around the world.
What is the story behind Amelia Earhart's disappearance?
Earhart and Noonan left Oakland, California, on May 20, 1937, in a Lockheed Electra aircraft. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery reports they stopped 29 times during their journey, with their last known fuel stop made in Lae, New Guinea on July 2 at 10 a.m. local time.
As they approached the end of their historic journey, Earhart and Noonan were scheduled to arrive on Howland Island - roughly 2,500 miles from Lae - where a U.S. Coast Guard cutter called the Itasca was waiting to refuel them.
Itasca received a series of occasional voice messages from Earhart as her signal grew stronger. However, neither Earhart nor Noonan were able to understand Morse code, so a back-and-forth conversation was not possible, according to a review of government records by the Smithsonian Institute.
.
On January 5, 1939, they were ruled officially deceased.
Theories about disappearance abound
Since Earhart and Noonan vanished, numerous theories have emerged attempting to explain their disappearance. The most widely-supported theory is that Earhart and Noonan ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean.
Elgin and Marie Long wrote the book "Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved", stating that Earhart and Noonan likely burned up their fuel while encountering bad weather on their way to Howland Island. They support this by citing Earhart's voice as she tried to locate the ship assisting the pair on their attempted around-the-world flight.
Some theorists claim that the flight may have been part of a secret spy mission, possibly with Earhart assuming a false identity, or that Earhart and Noonan were taken captive by a foreign government.
An atoll located approximately four hundred miles south of Howland Island.
she was in custody.
When asked about those far-fetched theories, "None of that is practical."
As-multimillion-dollar searches go on for the famous plane, many are waiting for a solution to one of the most enduring unsolved mysteries in history.
I was really optimistic about this one. The discovery is nothing short of astonishing!" one Facebook user posted on Deep Sea Vision's announcement of a rock formation. "It's looking a lot like her plane. I've been eager for updates! Thanks for not giving up on this.
Contributing: Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY
A lot of people were expecting it to be Amelia Earhart's missing plane. However, it was actually a rock formation.