![]() The resulting high-resolution maps would orient an autonomous underwater vehicle’s (AUV) more detailed searching. ![]() Onboard the ships, a geographic information system (GIS) functioned as a photographer’s “dark room,” allowing Geoscience Australia to develop pictures from the incoming data that would help searchers monitor sonar data quality as well as mission progress. This image shows the comparison of past satellite-derived bathymetry next to the higher-resolution data collected in the MH370 search.Īs the vessels moved across the search area, surveyors reviewed the sonar data in real time to flag any anomalies that could be an aircraft debris field. The ships acquired data 24/7 as they traveled across the search area. The underwater search primarily employed sidescan and multibeam sonar equipment towed behind vessels to collect high-resolution images. ![]() The first phase of the search would consist of a high-resolution survey of the ocean bottom. The initial search area encompassed more than 450,000 square miles.Įxisting ocean depth (bathymetry) data of the search area was not of sufficient resolution to guide the submersible vehicles that would travel close to the seafloor to take closer looks. ![]() By analyzing satellite communication data, Geoscience Australia drew the search area on a map and updated it as the analysis was refined. Investigators mostly agreed that the plane exhausted its fuel somewhere along that corridor. Geoscience Australia, Australia’s public-sector geography authority, led the mapping effort, processing seafloor maps that helped the searchers visualize all data and adapt their strategies.Īn analysis of radar data and metadata associated with subsequent satellite communications with the aircraft placed MH370 on a long arc within the Australian search-and-rescue zone. After a two-month aerial search of the surface that found no trace of MH370, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) began an underwater search that would use sonar, submersible vehicles, and a location intelligence platform to visualize the data. In March of 2014, Australia led the search operation at the request of the Malaysian government. The decision to suspend the underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness.” Accordingly, the underwater search for MH370 has been suspended. “Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting-edge technology, as well as modelling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft. Despite the failed search effort, the monumental deep-sea mission produced the most detailed underwater map ever created.Ī joint communique from the transport ministers of Malaysia, Australia, and China included the following statement upon the conclusion of the search: The rugged topography of the Indian Ocean floor could potentially obscure the debris field, making undersea mapping an important part of the investigation. The difficulty in finding MH370 can be blamed in part on geology. The loss of MH370 remains one of the highest-profile catastrophes of modern commercial aviation, and four years later, despite one of the most expensive searches ever undertaken, MH370 still remains missing. Analysis of satellite data revealed that MH370 had flown for over six hours after contact was lost and likely crashed along a narrow arc of the southern Indian Ocean. On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a commercial jetliner on its way from Malaysia to China with 239 people on board, strayed from its flight path and disappeared from air traffic control radar.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |