French and Malaysian investigators are meeting in Paris after the arrival of a wing fragment many hope will solve the mystery of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
Experts are trying to determine whether the part comes from the plane, which disappeared on March 8th, 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
It was found on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion and returned to the French mainland.
Air safety investigators, including one from Boeing, have identified the component as a flaperon from the trailing edge of a Boeing 777 wing, a US official has said.
Flight 370 is the only missing 777 and many are convinced the flap comes from the ill-fated jet.
Investigators are expected to determine whether the piece came from MH370 or not by Wednesday.
Barnacles encrusted on the debris may help provide further information about where it came from. Based on photographs, ecologists in Australia believe the crustaceans clinging to the wing piece are goose or stalk barnacles.
"Barnacle shells ... can tell us valuable information about the water conditions under which they were formed," said Ryan Pearson, a PhD student at Australia's Griffith University who is studying the shell chemistry of barnacles to determine migration patterns of endangered loggerhead turtles.
The technique is also used to study the movement of whales. Experts analyse barnacle shells to determine the temperature and chemical composition of the water through which they passed to help reveal their origin. While the technique could help narrow the area of the search for MH370 to within tens, or hundreds, of kilometres, it was unlikely to pinpoint an exact location, Mr Pearson said.
Barnacles can be aged, based on growth rates and size. If the barnacles on the debris are older than the date MH370 went missing, it would rule it coming from that plane, said Melanie Bishop a professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University.
Ecologists would look at whether the barnacles were on the surface of the flaperon or confined to the sides as that could indicate whether the debris moved on the surface of the water or was submerged.
AP/Reuters