MH370 Search Area Seafloor Backscatter Data at 30m Resolution

Over 710,000 square kilometres of seafloor backscatter data was collected to support the underwater search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau led the operation, with data acquisition by Geoscience Australia from June 2014 to February 2017. This dataset provides a 30-meter resolution view of the Southern Indian Ocean's seafloor topography across the search and transit areas.

Use Cases

• Classifying seafloor sediment types using backscatter intensity values.
• Analyzing topographic features like ridges or canyons from the 30m resolution backscatter grid.
• Correlating backscatter patterns with bathymetric depth data for habitat mapping.
• Training models to identify anomalous seafloor features potentially related to wreckage.

Strengths

• Covers a vast area of over 710,000 square kilometres.
• Provides consistent 30-meter resolution data across the defined search and transit zones.

Limitations

• Specific row/column counts, file formats, and data schema are unknown.
• Data is temporally static, covering a period ending in February 2017.

Provenance

Source

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and Geoscience Australia.

Collection Method

Acquired via multibeam sonar systems mounted on the hull of multiple survey vessels (GA-4421, GA-4422, GA-4430).

Time Range

June 2014 to February 2017.

Freshness

Dataset metadata was updated in April 2026, but underlying data collection ended in 2017.

Geography

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