Authors / CoAuthors
Abstract
On behalf of Australia, and in support of the Malaysian accident investigation, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) led search operations for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in the Southern Indian Ocean. Geoscience Australia provided advice, expertise and support to the ATSB to facilitate marine surveys, which were undertaken to provide a detailed map of the sea floor topography to aid navigation during the underwater search. Prior to the Phase 1 bathymetric survey, very little was known about the sea floor in the MH370 search area, as few marine surveys have taken place in the area. Existing maps of the sea floor were coarse, having been derived from satellites and only providing a general indication of water depth. Before the underwater search for MH370 could begin, it was necessary to accurately map the sea floor to ensure that the search was undertaken safely and effectively. Survey vessels spent months at sea, scanning the sea floor with multibeam sonar and side scan sonar to gather detailed, high-resolution data. This collation of datasets on the National Computational Infrastructure contains the high resolution raw and processed data acquired during Phase 2 of the search for MH370 as received by third party operators. The Phase 2 underwater search data was acquired by multiple vessels, including the Fugro Equator, Fugro Supporter, Fugro Discovery, Havila Harmony, Dong Hai Jiu 101 and Go Phoenix. Surveys were conducted using towed and autonomous underwater vehicles between September 2014 to January 2017, collecting over 121,000 square kilometres of high resolution data in the search area. All material and data from this access point is subject to copyright. Please note the creative commons copyright notice and relating to the re-use of this material. Geoscience Australia's preference is that you attribute the datasets (and any material sourced from it) using the following wording: Source: Governments of Australia, Malaysia and the People's Republic of China, 2018. MH370 Phase 2 data - Raw and processed. For additional assistance, please contact marine@ga.gov.au. We honour the memory of those who have lost their lives and acknowledge the enormous loss felt by their loved ones.
Product Type
collection
eCat Id
120962
Contact for the resource
Point of contact
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr
GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
Digital Object Identifier
Keywords
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- bathymetry
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- marine
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- MH370
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- sidescan sonar
- ( Product )
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- Published_External
Publication Date
2018-09-17T05:31:43
Creation Date
2018-06-25T00:00:00
Security Constraints
Legal Constraints
Status
Purpose
The data collected during phase 2 of the operational search for MH370 was used for the purposes of locating an aircraft debris field on the sea floor. The data collected in the search for MH370 during Phase 1 and 2 will contribute to a better understanding of the formation of the southern Indian Ocean. This data could provide new insights for scientists in particular related to: continental margin geology plate tectonic history seabed processes identifying unusual sea floor features the direction of future survey expeditions to investigate these features Bathymetry data can also be used as a baseline product in the creation of hydrodynamic models to understand ocean currents, oceanographic connectivity (biological or physical) between different areas of the ocean, and short and long term trends in environmental variables, such as climate. Biological and physical connectivity (dispersal rates) can be affected by geographic barriers (land mass, spatial scale, varying seascapes and drastic environmental gradients). The depth of the ocean is a major factor in defining the habitat for flora and fauna. Pressure, light and temperature are all reliant on the depth of the ocean, and these conditions affect the suitability of the habitat for individual organisms. Understanding the bathymetry of the sea floor may help scientists identify areas where there may be unique flora and fauna.
Maintenance Information
notPlanned
Topic Category
geoscientificInformation
Series Information
Lineage
This is the collation of datasets on the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), containing the raw and processed data acquired during Phase 2 of the search for MH370 as received by third party operators. No additional processing or edits have been made to the data by Geoscience Australia, except for folder restructuring. Additional dataset level metadata can be found in the 'documents' folder on NCI.
Parent Information
Extents
[-40.00, -25.00, 80.00, 100.00]
Reference System
Spatial Resolution
varied
Service Information
Associations
Downloads and Links
Source Information