Marine Geospatial Data for Seafloor Exploration and MH370 Search

Geoscience Australia's marine geospatial data includes bathymetry, backscatter, and sediment layers. The service also contains specific 150 m and optimal resolution bathymetry, 5 m sidescan sonar, and synthetic aperture sonar data collected during the multinational search for Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean. It allows exploration of seafloor topography compiled from multibeam sonar and other marine datasets.

Use Cases

• Map seafloor topography based on bathymetry and backscatter gridded data
• Analyze marine sediment distribution based on marine sediment data
• Plan bathymetry surveys based on bathymetry coverage information and priority planning areas
• Study specific search areas based on high-resolution sonar data from the MH370 search operations

Strengths

• Includes data from a specific, high-profile international search operation (MH370)
• Contains multiple derived products and layers, suggesting processed data availability
• Last updated metadata indicates ongoing maintenance (2026-04-16)

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count and data scale are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific survey areas covered

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Compilation of multibeam sonar and other marine datasets acquired.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-16 14:34:37.051137; freshness should be verified

Geography

Indian Ocean, with focus on areas surveyed for MH370