MH370 Phase 1 Bathymetry: 150m Resolution Seafloor Maps of the Southern Indian Ocean

Geoscience Australia, on behalf of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), collected bathymetric data to support the search for missing flight MH370. The dataset covers over 710,000 square kilometres of the Southern Indian Ocean, acquired via multibeam sonar surveys from June 2014 to February 2017. It provides a 150m resolution map of seafloor topography, overlain on a hillshade for visualization.

Use Cases

• Modeling seafloor terrain for geological research based on the detailed bathymetry data.
• Visualizing underwater topography for navigation planning using the provided hillshade layer.
• Analyzing survey coverage and data density across the 710,000 square kilometre search and transit area.
• Studying the bathymetric features of a remote ocean region surveyed between 2014 and 2017.

Strengths

• Covers a large, specific area of over 710,000 square kilometres.
• Provides a consistent 150m resolution grid for the entire survey region.
• Includes a derived hillshade layer created with specific illumination parameters (45-degree azimuth and altitude).
• Data collection was conducted over a defined period from June 2014 to February 2017.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, collected for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).

Collection Method

Multibeam sonar surveys mounted on the hull of multiple vessels.

Time Range

June 2014 to February 2017

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-04 23:52:08.699011; freshness should be verified

Geography

Southern Indian Ocean, specifically the MH370 search area and transit lines.