MH370 Phase 1 Optimal Bathymetry datasets (GA-4421, GA-4422 and GA-4430)

On behalf of Australia, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is leading 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 bathymetric surveys, which were undertaken to provide a detailed map of the sea floor topography to aid navigation during the underwater search.Bathymetric data was acquired by multibeam sonar mounted on the hull of multiple vessels (GA survey reference: GA-4421, GA-4422 & GA-4430). Bathymetric surveys were conducted from June 2014 to February 2017, collecting over 710,000 square kilometres of data in the search area and along transit lines (to and from the search area). This dataset allows exploration of the seafloor topography through an optimal resolution compilation of tiles across the search and transit areas of the Southern Indian Ocean. The dataset is overlain on a hillshade created from the Optimal resolution bathymetry data. The hillshade was created with the parameters of point illumination azimuth at 45 degrees and altitude of 45 degrees.