PERTH (AFP) - Planes and ships resumed the hunt on Friday for wreckage from Flight MH370 after the weather cleared as they chased down more satellite sightings of suspected debris nearly three weeks after the jet crashed.

Sorties being flown by planes from Australia, China, Japan and the United States were forced back to Perth on Thursday as thunderstorms and gale-force winds swept through the southern Indian Ocean, although five ships stayed put.

There were fears that rough weather had set in, but the coordinating authority, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, announced the search would start again on Friday.

"The MH370 search will resume this morning," AMSA tweeted.

One day of the search in the remote southern Indian Ocean had already been lost this week due to poor conditions.

The resumption comes after Thailand late on Thursday reported a satellite sighting of hundreds of floating objects.

It was the second such sighting in two days, suggesting a possible debris field from the Malaysian Airlines jet that vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board.