Groundbreaking new research into what lies in the depths of Loch Ness has discovered the presence of a ‘micro monster’.
Holographic images of microbial life were captured for the first time using the University of Aberdeen’s state-of-the-art digital holographic camera. Engineers from the university teamed up with The Loch Ness Centre to uncover more about the loch, infamous for the ‘monster’ that lurks within.
During the first of a series of expeditions, the device captured detailed images of plankton particles – described as “micro-monsters”.
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(Image: Jam Press Vid/University of Aber)
The ‘weeHoloCam’ is capable of producing several thousand digital holographic images of microscopic marine organisms in one dive and uses the latest in artificial intelligence techniques to classify the images. It has never before been used in freshwater.
The team took to the waters onboard the Deepscan vessel, skippered by Alistair Matheson, for the initial trip which was also featured on BBC’s The One Show.
Dr Thangavel Thevar, from the University of Aberdeen’s School of Engineering, said: “We were curious as to what the water quality would be like, especially at lower depths, as we know that too much peat could obstruct the recording path of the instrument.
(Image: Jam Press Vid/University of Aber)
“But we lowered the camera to around 200 metres and were able to see lots of interesting particles which, by working with biologists, should be able to give us more information about the biodiversity of Loch Ness.”
Nagina Ishaq, General Manager of The Loch Ness Centre, said: “At the centre, we present the whole story about Loch Ness – the science and the myths and as part of that ongoing effort we want to encourage researchers to come here and to find out more about what is in the Loch, because there is so much we don’t know.”
Dr Andy Stakey, one of the engineers, said that after they record data from the loch, they take it back to the lab for analysis to identify and classify animals.
He added: “We’re going to enlist the help of some biologists to help us so they can tell us exactly what they are. That’s another reason why it’s special – we have pictures of these animals in situ. We haven’t killed them and taken these images.
(Image: Jam Press Vid/University of Aber)
“Those animals still live and exist in the loch. So we’re going to have examples of these animals for the first time in situ from Loch Ness, which is hugely exciting.”
The team of engineers plan to return later in the year for further deployments of the weeHoloCam. Earlier this month, Loch Ness detectors picked up a “regular heartbeat”.
The rhythmic pulsing was picked up on a hydrophone that was deployed 100-feet beneath the surface. And while the source of the sound is unclear, experts are excited.
“At first we believed that the hydrophone might be getting dragged along the bottom but the boat skipper confirmed the cable was at least five metres from the bottom,” Alan McKenna, from the research group Loch Ness Exploration, said.
“You can clearly hear a rhythmic pulse or heartbeat within the recording. We’ve no idea what was causing this sound but it’s very interesting.”
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