MH370 Phase 2: 5m Resolution Sonar Imagery of Southern Indian Ocean

Side Scan Sonar, Synthetic Aperture Sonar, and multibeam sonar backscatter data at 5-meter resolution was collected during the Phase 2 search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. The data was acquired by autonomous and towed vehicles from multiple vessels between September 2014 and January 2017 to map sea floor topography in the Southern Indian Ocean. Governments of Australia, Malaysia, and the People's Republic of China collaborated on the marine surveys led by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

Use Cases

• Seafloor feature identification based on 5m resolution sonar backscatter imagery.
• Bathymetric mapping for navigation and underwater search planning using multibeam sonar data.
• Analysis of marine geology and sediment distribution from Side Scan Sonar (SSS) and Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) imagery.
• Historical reconstruction of search operations for flight MH370 using georeferenced sonar survey data.

Strengths

• High-resolution data at 5 meters, providing detailed seafloor imagery.
• Data collected over a multi-year period from September 2014 to January 2017, offering temporal coverage.
• Involvement of multiple national governments (Australia, Malaysia, China) and agencies (ATSB, Geoscience Australia) suggests authoritative collection.

Limitations

• Critical metadata such as column names, row count, file size, and specific license are unknown across all platform entries.
• The dataset appears to be for visualization purposes, which may limit its utility for quantitative analysis.
• Platform metadata shows conflicting 'last updated' timestamps (2026-06-27 and 2026-06-16), raising questions about maintenance.

Provenance

Source

Governments of Australia, Malaysia, and the People's Republic of China, facilitated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and Geoscience Australia.

Collection Method

Marine surveys using Echo Surveyor 7 (Kongsberg AUV Hugin 1000), Edgetech 2400 Deep Tow, and SLH PS-60 Synthetic Aperture Sonar Deep Tow deployed from vessels including Fugro Supporter, Fugro Equator, and Go Phoenix.

Time Range

September 2014 to January 2017

Freshness

2026-06-27 20:19:06.718941

Geography

Southern Indian Ocean (specific search area for flight MH370)