The underwater search has resumed for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 — more than six months after the plane went missing.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said Monday that the GO Phoenix survey vessel began its search in a remote area of the Indian Ocean known as the "seventh arc" about 1,100 miles off Australia's West Coast.
The Malaysian government-financed GO Phoenix will be the first of three ships to try and find the plane in what officials say could be a year-long mission.
CNN explained how the first stage of the new search will unfold in an area of the ocean that goes about four miles deep.
CNN: "Three ships will be equipped with a 'tow fish' that contain side-scan sonar and a camera to be towed about 100 meters above the ocean floor. Data will then be transmitted in real-time to the ship and on a daily basis via satellite to shore."
Dutch contractor Fugro, the company that set out on the previous mission in the southern Indian Ocean but came up empty-handed, will supply the two remaining vessels. They'll also be equipped with a "tow fish."
The search mission was put on hold four months ago while crews mapped out the ocean floor in the search area — roughly a 23,000-square-mile radius.
In a statement on October 1, the Australian government said new interpretation of existing data has helped narrow search efforts — which will now mainly take place underwater.
Flight MH370 disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March with 239 passengers onboard. This is considered the largest and longest search mission in commercial flight history.
This video contains images from Getty Images / Greg Wood, Australian Department of Defense, Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
