In the search for MH370, survey ships used sonar - sound wave technology to create images of terrain and seabed objects. Part of the data collected in the period 2014-2017 has not been analyzed.
Based on the above data, the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) then requested Geoscience Australia, the Australian Government's national geological science agency, to review the data after a new analysis suggested that MH370 may be located in the area previously surveyed.
In about two months, Geoscience Australia reviewed high-resolution sonar images on an area of about 4,900km2. The results identified 11 locations with unanalyzed objects in the initial search.
But these 11 objects are not 11 MH370 debris. Experts assess that 8 objects are likely geological structures, while 3 objects are likely of artificial origin. These three objects are located separately, do not form a debris field and have not been identified as related to the missing plane.
The scanned data has a resolution sufficient to detect small objects up to about 30 x 30cm. Geoscience Australia believes that if the plane wreckage is in the scanned area, the sonar image may show a debris field consisting of many strongly reflected objects.
However, this result does not mean that MH370 has been excluded from the entire proposed area. The reviewed data only accounts for about 29% of the total area of 17,000km2 required for assessment. The rest includes areas without appropriate data, low-resolution data or data from Ocean Infinity not within the review scope.
The report also recorded 72.79km2 of data vacant space. Some vacant spaces are large enough to hold the debris field, meaning the review cannot conclude for the entire 17,000km2 area.
After the assessment, ATSB concluded that it is very unlikely that a school of plane debris exists in the area that has been reviewed. However, the assessment did not determine the location of MH370.
MH370 plane went missing on March 8, 2014 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Beijing (China), with 239 people on board. The underwater search led by Australia in the period 2014-2017 did not find the plane; the location of the MH370 plane wreckage has not been determined to date.
