Creature From the Deep: 'Monster' Discovery of 'Nessie'
Mid-April 2016, Kongsberg Maritime Ltd, UK, has uncovered the elusive Nessie. That is, the long lost model of Nessie which was used during filming of 1970’s ‘The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes’. The discovery was made during a survey of Loch Ness, led by Kongsberg Maritime Ltd and supported by The Loch Ness Project and VisitScotland. Operation Groundtruth is the first survey of its kind in Scotland, making use of Kongsberg Maritime Ltd’s MUNIN AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). The underwater vehicle is able to map vast areas up to a depth of 1,500m at high resolution.
As Loch Ness has a reputation of being difficult to survey, the MUNIN is expected to reveal brand new information regarding the Loch. Uncovering the 46 year old Nessie model was just the beginning…
First Multibeam Sonar
Craig Wallace, senior subsea applications engineer at Kongsberg Maritime Ltd explains that Kongsberg Maritime Ltd began surveying Loch Ness with some of the world's first multibeam sonar back in 1987. Over the years, the company has returned many times, bringing the latest technology to uncover the Loch’s mysteries.
He expects to uncover new information from the Loch during this survey, as MUNIN is the first of the next generation AUVs from Kongsberg Maritime. Merging the technology from the commercial sector whilst maintaining the reliability from the military market, the vehicle is providing new insights to the Loch’s depths.
Video visualisation of the survey’s findings:
