Thursday, August 12, 2010
Group B Researcher
Researcher: Your job is to find some background information related to an important idea in the reading. Search through available references such as library books, reference books such as the encyclopedia, magazines. You might even interview someone who knows about your topic. Find some websites on the Internet so that you can do your investigation online. Share an interesting tidbit related to your reading.Please respond to each others' Research entry.
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I focused my research on the actual geographical area of Loch Ness itself, s well as the mysterious Loch Ness Monster. I used what I had read in teh book as a jumping point in my research, at first corroborating some of what I had read, such as the size of the lake and the sightings of the animal.
ReplyDeleteLoch Ness (geographical lake, not the monster)
*The largest freshwater lake in all of Great Britain, Loch Ness is about 23 miles long and 1 mile across at it's widest point. It has been discovered that the lake has a depth of about 788 feet at it's deepest recorded point. It holds more water than the other freshwater lakes in Great Britain put together. (Encyclopedia Britanica) One website stated that the lake holds 263 thousand million cubic ft of water, which has a surface area of 14,000 acres and COULD hold the population of the world 10x over. (I had been wondering about this one since I read that bit in the book...I wasn't sure if it was a fact or 'fact'. This came from a Loch Ness Monster website and was not credited, so I take it with a grain of salt).
*Loch Ness is linked to a system of waterways in Scotland by the Caledonian canal. The canal system goes from coast to coast, about 60 miles long all told. (About an hour's drive on 84 if you go the speed limit).
*My favorite fact about Loch Ness: ave temp of about 42 degrees, and the water in the lake never freezes, no matter how cold the winter.
Loch Ness Monster (Nessie)
ReplyDeleteThere's a LOT of information on the Loch Ness Monster out there, and because of its nature it was and difficult task to find the most valid information on the subject. In the end my research came from
1. a large Loch Ness Monster informational sight:
http://www.nessie.co.uk/
2. and an article I found in the Journal of Scientific Exploration (20002) located here:
http://henryhbauer.homestead.com/16.2_bauer.pdf
*There have been numerous sightings of the Loch Ness monster over the years. Eyewitness accounts, photographs, taped footage and sonar pictures are all archived as evidence towards the existence of this creature. There has been much uniformity in the size, shape, makeup (the creature has a hide, not scales) in the accounts.
*The Loch Ness monster was assigned a taxonomic name, nessiteras rhombopteryx. The name means "The wonder of Ness with the diamond shaped fin."
*Dinsdale Film: Taken in 1960 by Tim Dinsdale, the film shows a creature moving across the water. Later on a boat was taken out in the same area, showing that the wake of a boat (or any craft) would have been significantly different than the one shown in the film, concluding that it was a live creature.
*There are also echoes of sonar that have shown flipper like forms/appendages.
For more specifics go to the sight above or read the article. Both are quite interesting.
!
In response to Theresa:
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see that there has been uniformity in the eyewitness accounts. In the book, most witnesses saw a long head, humps and fin-type flippers. It seems that everyone seems to be seeing the very same thing, which makes the stories more believable. Also, the size of the lake itself was something that impressed me. Like Theresa, I too, wondered if the world’s population could fit 3 times over and if it was really, in fact, that deep. Turns out, it fits the world’s population 10 times over! Also, finding out the average temperature of the lake was 42 degrees really struck how cold that lake is! I can only imagine the “icy cold shock” that Vanessa felt on her skin as she fell in! Oh, and the fact that the canal system is 60 miles long…good luck, Nessie!
In response to Theresa:
ReplyDeleteWhen Vanessa fell into the water and the author stated the waters were icy cold, I thought Vanessa would have been a goner in no time. Now seeing the research,the waters are 42 degrees. How could a person survive such cold waters for a long period of time?
The books accounts of the sightings were the same throughout the book. The research itself shows the same accounts the author wrote in her book. The research and the book makes me wonder if there really is a lochness monster in Scotland. It is possible especially if the lake is really that deep and if the canals trapped a prehistoric animal during the time it was being built. I guess the question will always be "Is there really a Nessie?"
Theresa qucik question, When doing your research did you find if it is true what the book said that underwater because it is so deep that air pockets are trapped and that could be why Nessie isn't spotted on the surface that often becasue she is using these air pockets? Just wondering? And I love the fact about the water being 42 degree all year long!
ReplyDeleteI looked up answers to both questions. Here's what I found:
ReplyDelete1. According to a Hypothermia Chart I found on a boating safety website (info was corroborated on another website as well), the time until the average adult reaches exhaustion/unconsciousness within 30-60 min and expected time of survival is 1 to 3 hours in 40 to 50 degree water.
2. As for the underwater caves, I looked around for data on my first round of research, but did not find anything concrete or conclusive. When I did a more focused search, I found some mentions of 'Nessies Cave' an underwater cavern discovered by George Edwards in 1987 using sonar during a coastguard training exercise. He found that the cavern ran 812 ft deep. Anything else I found was conjecture and assumption - I didn't find any actual facts/findings of caves. I think it is in the realm of assumptions at this point since the lake is so deep and so much of it is unexplored.
(I feel like this is, for me the, biggest 'pro' in the argument whether Nessie exists...how can scientists call it impossible if there is so much unknown about the lake? Just in the last 10 years hundreds of 'impossible' things are discovered/achieved by science and technology)
I was thinking the samething about how technology has changed in the last few years, too. If sonar discovered underwater caverns back in 1987. Then, why don't they go back down with all the new immersible submarines to locate Nessie? The new technology will probably allow them to discover what is really down in the lake. But do we really want to know if Nessie is real or mythical?
ReplyDeleteDoing a bit of further research I found an article that mentioned there have been less sonar readings of large moving objects in recent years. The scientist interviewed believed that 'Nessie' maybe be dead and has changed his tactics in order to search for skeletons and bones.
ReplyDelete(The article was in 'Boston Magazine' so isn't a 'scientific' article per say, but an interview with a Robert Rines, who recorded several sonar readings of what he believes to be Nessie and spent years exploring the lake trying to find the truth)
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/the_scientist_and_the_monster/page2
This whole concept of Nessie is so interesting to me. I do believe that people have seen something, but there is so much reasonable doubt. Vanessa mentions many times that they people who have reported sightings have no reason to lie, however there is a chance that they're minds might be playing tricks on them. Especially once it was mentioned that something might be down there, people saw what they wanted to believe. I think the research is interesting and the sightings are worth considering, but I feel after all of these years and no concrete evidence, perhaps Nessie might be mythical after all. But it is fun to believe...
ReplyDeleteDid you find any "kid friendly" sites about "Nessie"? Just curious...I would love to know if you came across any so that I could use them with my students during our computer lab time!
ReplyDelete