Bathymetry of the Western Australia Margin for the MH370 Search

Geoscience Australia provided high-resolution seabed mapping data to support the underwater search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370. Bathymetry survey vessels spent months scanning the sea floor with multibeam sonar, revealing many seabed features for the first time. This data was collected to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the search operation in the southern Indian Ocean.

Use Cases

• Modeling underwater terrain for safe navigation based on detailed bathymetric data
• Analyzing seabed geomorphology based on high-resolution sonar scans
• Planning deep-sea search operations based on accurate sea floor maps
• Creating 3D visualizations of the ocean floor based on multibeam sonar data

Strengths

• Data was gathered over months at sea using multibeam sonar.
• The description notes the data is detailed and high-resolution.
• Data revealed many seabed features for the first time in the search area.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The primary format listed is HTML, which may not contain the raw data files.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, provided via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Collected by bathymetry survey vessels using multibeam sonar scanning.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-16 09:54:57.646699; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southern Indian Ocean, specifically the search area for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 off the western margin of Western Australia.