MH370 Phase 2: High-Resolution Sea Floor Sonar Data from the Southern Indian Ocean

Between September 2014 and January 2017, multiple vessels collected over 121,000 square kilometres of high-resolution raw and processed sonar data in the Southern Indian Ocean during the search for missing flight MH370. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau led the operation, with support from Geoscience Australia, to map previously uncharted sea floor topography. This dataset contains the multibeam and side scan sonar data acquired during Phase 2 of the underwater search.

Use Cases

• Modeling sea floor topography based on high-resolution bathymetric survey data.
• Analyzing sonar backscatter patterns for geological feature identification based on side scan sonar data.
• Planning safe navigation routes for autonomous underwater vehicles based on detailed sea floor maps.
• Studying the morphology of a previously unmapped region of the Southern Indian Ocean.

Strengths

• Covers over 121,000 square kilometres, providing extensive spatial coverage of the search area.
• Data is described as high-resolution, derived from multibeam and side scan sonar systems.
• Surveys were conducted over a multi-year period from September 2014 to January 2017.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, on behalf of the Governments of Australia, Malaysia, and the People's Republic of China.

Collection Method

Marine surveys conducted by vessels including Fugro Equator and Go Phoenix using towed and autonomous underwater vehicles with multibeam and side scan sonar.

Time Range

September 2014 to January 2017

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 21:51:04.458316; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southern Indian Ocean, specifically the MH370 search area.