Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 search data reveal geomorphology and seafloor processes in

A high-resolution multibeam echosounder dataset covering over 279,000 km² was acquired in the southeastern Indian Ocean to assist the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared on 8 March 2014. The data, provided by Geoscience Australia, is the first large-scale MBES coverage in this remote region and reveals detailed seafloor features. It was last updated on 25 March 2026.

Use Cases

• Comparing satellite-derived bathymetry models with high-resolution measurements based on the reported 38% disagreement with SRTM15_plus data.
• Analyzing seafloor spreading processes and volcanism based on the described series of ridges and seamounts.
• Identifying modern sedimentary processes like mass transport and gas/fluid discharge based on mapped pockmarks and sediment features.
• Updating global seafloor feature inventories based on the reported fourfold increase in seamounts and doubling of discrete features.

Strengths

• Covers a vast area of over 279,000 square kilometers in a previously unmapped region.
• Provides high-resolution data revealing features four times more numerous than previous global models.
• Enables vertical accuracy assessment, with reported disagreements of up to 1900 meters compared to satellite data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and specific file formats beyond HTML are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Acquired via high-resolution multibeam echosounder (MBES) survey.

Time Range

Data acquisition related to the search initiated after 8 March 2014.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 25 16:49:00.435594; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southeastern Indian Ocean, specifically the MH370 search area.