The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has unveiled two new reports that analysed data gathered during the surface search for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight.

Prepared by Geoscience Australia and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the reports analysed findings of satellite imagery taken on 23 March 2014, two weeks after the MH370 flight that involved a Boeing 777 aircraft went missing over the southern Indian Ocean.

French authorities provided the images, which did not cover the area that was searched from the air at that time, but included regions close to the underwater search area.

“Geoscience Australia identified a number of objects in the satellite imagery, which have been classified as probably man-made."

Experts from Geoscience Australia examined four images to find whether they contained any man-made objects.

ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood said: “Geoscience Australia identified a number of objects in the satellite imagery, which have been classified as probably man-made.

“The image resolution is not high enough to be certain whether the objects originated from MH370 or are other objects that might be found floating in oceans around the world.”

CSIRO has already conducted a drift study to determine the geographic origin of the objects identified in the satellite images to provide an indication of where they were likely to have been on the day of the incident that occurred on 8 March 2014.

The drift study found that the projected location of the objects identified in most of the satellite images was consistent with the area identified by experts during the MH370 First Principles Review published in November last year.

The review had indicated that the 777 aircraft could be located to the north of the 120,000km² area in the southern Indian Ocean.

In January, the underwater search undertaken by the governments of Australia, Malaysia and China to find the missing aircraft had been called off.

However, some residual analysis activities still continued.