Can anyone who lives in the general region of the search area answer a question for me? Is there ever a time when the ocean is calmer than it is now -- a "quiet season," if you will? I was wondering -- if weather prevents a thorough underwater search right now -- if there will come a time in a few months for a comprehensive search.
To clarify, I'm not suggesting the search should wait. What I'm asking is, if it turns out they find enough pieces to definitively say it's the plane -- but weather prohibits them from finding more than a few pieces -- might there be a "quiet season" when searchers can return to continue the recovery process.
I'm no expert, but I'm not sure that it is EVER calm in that area, Jaime.
The area is avoided by ships. Experienced yachters who have ventured near the area have had to be rescued. It is windy, desolate, away from land masses.
They say it is somewhat calmer in December (our summer) .. but here are some comments by someone who was there in December.
A lonely, lonely place
The search for flight MH370 is taking place over one of the most harsh and isolated points on the planet, in a patch of southern Indian Ocean from where Antarctica beckons.
It is also windy, lashed by huge waves.
"Very harsh conditions, once you get there the influence of Antarctica... starts to come clearly on the ocean," said Erik van Sebille, an oceanographer at Sydney's University of New South Wales.
Van Sebille, who was on a research ship in the area in December, said even in calm conditions the place was challenging and with the southern hemisphere's autumn approaching, it was set to deteriorate.
"The place couldn't have been worse, but also the timing couldn't have been worse. Had it been a few months earlier, the seas are much calmer, much easier to work in."
Nathan Bindoff, professor of physical oceanography at the University of Tasmania, said: "The Indian Ocean sector is a region that has strong winds and big waves.
"It is the windiest sector of the southern ocean."
The strength of the currents could also hamper efforts to find any wreckage, the oceanographers said, with satellite imagery of the potential debris showing the objects awash, bobbing in the sea where waves can be towering.
"So you have very, very strong winds there, quite high waves. You've got among the strongest currents in the world," said van Sebille.
He said any wreckage from the plane could already be 1,000 kilometres from where the jet hit the water, making the job of backtracking to the crash site from the debris sighting even more difficult.
http://www.emirates247.com/news/aus...f-world-s-harshest-places-2014-03-20-1.541573
lease: Praying for all the families. 
