MH370 Phase 2: High-Resolution Sea Floor Sonar Data from 2014-2017

Between September 2014 and January 2017, multiple survey vessels collected over 121,000 square kilometres of high-resolution raw and processed sonar data in the Southern Indian Ocean. Geoscience Australia collated this data to support the underwater search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. The data provides detailed mapping of previously uncharted sea floor topography.

Use Cases

• Modeling sea floor topography based on high-resolution bathymetric survey data
• Analyzing sonar imagery for underwater object detection based on side scan sonar data
• Planning safe navigation routes for autonomous underwater vehicles based on detailed sea floor maps

Strengths

• Covers over 121,000 square kilometres of previously unmapped ocean floor
• Data is high-resolution, acquired using multibeam and side scan sonar
• Surveys conducted by multiple vessels over a 2+ year period from September 2014 to January 2017

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, on behalf of the Governments of Australia, Malaysia, and the People's Republic of China

Collection Method

Acquired by third-party operators using towed and autonomous underwater vehicles with multibeam and side scan sonar

Time Range

September 2014 to January 2017

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 18:08:24.167699; freshness should be verified

Geography

Southern Indian Ocean, MH370 search area