Ministers from Australia and Malaysia _ which have each contributed $60 million to the current search effort _ will be meeting with their Chinese counterpart next month to decide whether _ and how _ to fund another search.

"Obviously, the more partners we have in the search, the greater the capacity to search a larger area," Truss says. "And so we'd certainly welcome participation from other countries."

If officials decided to extend the search, they would want to continue using the vessels, crews and equipment currently looking for the plane, Truss says.

Q: How is the search being conducted?

A: There are four ships, each with around 30 people on board, combing the priority zone. Three of the ships are dragging sonar devices called "towfish" just above the seabed to scan for wreckage. In January, a fourth ship, the Fugro Supporter, joined the hunt.

The Supporter is using an autonomous underwater vehicle _ essentially an unmanned submarine _ that can more easily maneuver along the mountainous, uneven seabed in a few areas the towfish can't fully cover. Unlike the towfish, the underwater drone doesn't send real-time data back to the ship, so crews must haul it up at the end of each 24- to 36-hour mission to download the data.

The ships head back to shore every four weeks or so to get fresh supplies _ a trip that takes up to six days each way.

Q: Are searchers still looking for floating wreckage?

A: Technically, yes, says Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the search. After studying the area's currents, Australian officials asked Indonesia in August to watch for any debris that might have floated west to the island nation's shores. Officials are now reviewing their drift modeling to see whether they need to revise their projections of where debris could have ended up. But because so much time has passed, Dolan says all surface debris likely sank long ago.