Unexplained Engineering Mysteries: Team Uses Surveying Equipment to Detect the Loch Ness Monster

What is “Unexplained Engineering Mysteries?” It’s simply a title for lighter side of the news articles.

(The title is a bit of a misnomer. Why? Because us engineers would solve these mysteries. That’s what we do.)

On August 26^th, researchers and volunteers set out to find the Loch Ness monster. A fun fact about this image that will change your view of it forever: It was shot in a bathtub with a little model. Now, when I look at this, I can see it is very small with small waves. (Image Credit: Marmaduke Wetherell/public domain)

This caught my attention in a big way. I thought, with the prevalence of easy-to-acquire and use sensors and dev boards, the Loch Ness Monster's discovery would be nigh! However, I was halted in my enthusiasm by the tools used.

Worldwide Loch Ness researchers and fanatics geared up over the weekend, attempting to find the legendary Nessie in Scotland Waters. Scotland's Loch Ness Center claims this was the biggest organized event in fifty years. Everyone involved in this expedition used new surveying equipment that wasn't previously used to explore these waters.

"As part of the weekend of activities, the Loch Ness Centre and LNE are looking for volunteers to take part in a giant surface watch of the Loch, keeping an eye out for breaks in the water and any inexplicable movements," the center wrote. "Each morning, Alan McKenna from LNE will brief volunteers live from the Loch Ness Centre on what to look out for and how to record findings; each day, there will also be a debrief from the reimagined center to go through the day's findings."

They deployed thermal drones with infrared cameras to capture images of the water from above. Studying heat in this manner could help identify any unknown anomalies. They also used a 60-foot hydrophone underwater to detect acoustic signals that may point them to any Nessie-like calls. Meanwhile, volunteers on boats used infrared cameras to scan the waters for any signs of the creature.  

During tests on Friday, volunteers on a boat with a hydri\ophne system reported four unknown gloops, but they failed to plug in the recorder and couldn't record those signals.

The researchers searched for breaks in the water's surface and asked volunteers to record any natural behavior on the Loch. While some of those waves are explainable, some remain a mystery. Maybe just until the next Loch Ness Quest.

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