Real Life Nerds Found the Loch Ness Monster

Sonar scan revealing Nessie

People have been hunting the Loch Ness monster for centuries. Some, like Steve Feltham, George Edwards, and Dr. Robert Rines have dedicated their lives to searching for Nessie. Even Google Street View got in on the action. But everyone's come back empty handed...until 2016.

That's right, earlier this year the UK division of Kongsberg Maritime used an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to discover the elusive Nessie.

Prop wranglers wrestle with the Nessie model

OK, I'm sure you all know that no one found a plesiosaur hiding at the bottom of Loch Ness, or aliens projecting mind control rays at the Scottish populace. (Please forgive me for the click bait.) But Kongsberg did find something almost as exciting, a model of Nessie that was used during the filming of 1970's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes".




Kongsberg has a long history of scanning Loch Ness, their first survey was back in 1987, and they're known for coming back each time technology offers a better view of the mysterious loch. The current survey, Operation Groundtruth, saw the launch of Kongsberg's new MUNIN AUV, an underwater robot with highly accurate sonar and camera equipment that can map underwater structures up to a depth of 1,500 meters at incredibly high resolution. The torpedo-like MUNIN demonstrates the confluence of automated robotics and high definition sonar that allow unprecedented views underwater stuctures otherwise inaccessible to human eyes.

The video shows a highly accurate sonar map of the model reposing on the loch bed. Kongsberg reports that "uncovering the 46 year old Nessie model was just the beginning."

What are the chances that they'll get Benedict Cumberbatch in a wetsuit and diving into the loch for a retrieval mission?
If anyone living near Lake Champlain wants to go on a hunt for Champ, the MUNIN AUV is part of Kongsberg Maritime's rental pool, and they have offices in the U.S..