Could search crews be just a few hundred feet from solving a mystery that has riveted millions for 76 years?

That's the question raised by tantalizing evidence published this week by teams trying to find out what happened to famed aviator Amelia Earhart, who vanished along with navigator Fred Noonan during a doomed attempt to fly around the world in 1937.

Yet that evidence has been met with skepticism in some quarters.

Debate about the mystery gained new currency this week after researchers publicized images recorded by search teams scanning the ocean floor nearly a year ago near Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific.

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery raised the prospect of a big break in the case by publishing an image online. It showed something -- hard for the layman to size up -- on the ocean floor.

The group said, "It's the right size, it's the right shape and it's in the right place."

"So did (last summer's) expedition actually succeed in locating the wreckage of the world's most famous missing airplane? Or is this sonar target just a coral rock or ridge?" the organization said on its website. "Of course we're not going to know until we can get back out there, but until then the anomaly is worth close study."

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/31/world/asia/earhart-plane-search/index.html