Researchers said an object on Nikumaroro was likely trees. Nikumaroro is a remote Pacific atoll in Kiribati.

The object is called the Taraia Object. It was first spotted in satellite images in 2020.

Researchers traveled there to investigate the object. They wanted to know if it was linked to Amelia Earhart's disappearance.

Some researchers thought it could be wreckage. But longtime Earhart searchers thought it looked like a tree.

The Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue took part in the expedition. The team spent seven days near the island.

Four of those days were ashore. Most of the material had broken up or washed away before arrival.

Only a Y-shaped piece was left. The team found no clear proof that the object was Earhart's plane. The findings did not end the decades-long search for the missing plane.