Editing Loch Ness Monster (section)

===Misidentifications of inanimate objects or effects===

====Boat wakes====
Wakes have been reported when the loch is calm, with no boats nearby. Bartender David Munro reported a wake he believed was a creature zigzagging, diving, and reappearing; there were reportedly 26 other witnesses from a nearby car park.<ref name="Loch" />{{Better source needed|reason=Source unknown.|date=April 2016}} Although some sightings describe a V-shaped wake similar to a boat's,<ref name="AAS" /> others report something not conforming to the shape of a boat.<ref name="Discovery" />

====Trees====
In 1933, the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' published a picture with the caption: "This queerly-shaped tree-trunk, washed ashore at [[Foyers, Highland|Foyers]] [on Loch Ness] may, it is thought, be responsible for the reported appearance of a 'Monster{{'"}}.<ref>''Daily Mirror'' 17 August 1933 p. 12</ref> 

In a 1982 series of articles for ''[[New Scientist]]'', [[Maurice Burton]] proposed that sightings of Nessie and similar creatures may be fermenting [[Scots pine]] logs rising to the surface of the loch. A decomposing log could not initially release gases caused by decay because of its high [[resin]] level. Gas pressure would eventually rupture a resin seal at one end of the log, propelling it through the water (sometimes to the surface). According to Burton, the shape of tree logs (with their branch stumps) closely resembles descriptions of the monster.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burton |first=Maurice |year=1982 |title=The Loch Ness Saga |journal=New Scientist |volume=06-24 |page=872}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burton |first=Maurice |year=1982 |title=The Loch Ness Saga |journal=New Scientist |volume=07-01 |pages=41–42}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burton |first=Maurice |year=1982 |title=The Loch Ness Saga |journal=New Scientist |volume=07-08 |pages=112–113}}</ref>

====Seiches and wakes====
Loch Ness, because of its long, straight shape, is subject to unusual ripples affecting its surface. A [[seiche]] is a large oscillation of a lake, caused by water reverting to its natural level after being blown to one end of the lake (resulting in a [[standing wave]]); the Loch Ness oscillation period is 31.5&nbsp;minutes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Movement of Water in Lakes: Long standing waves (Seiches) |url=http://www.biology.qmul.ac.uk/research/staff/s-araya/currents.htm#Internal%20progressive%20waves |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531050301/http://www.biology.qmul.ac.uk/research/staff/s-araya/currents.htm#Internal%20progressive%20waves |archive-date=31 May 2009 |access-date=28 May 2009 |publisher=Biology.qmul.ac.uk}}</ref> Earthquakes in Scotland are too weak to cause observable seiches, but extremely massive earthquakes far away could cause large waves. The seiche created in Loch Ness by the catastrophic [[1755 Lisbon earthquake]] was reportedly "so violent as to threaten destruction to some houses built on the sides of it", while the [[1761 Lisbon earthquake|1761 aftershock]] caused two-foot (60&nbsp;cm) waves. However, no sightings of the monster were reported in 1755.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Muir-Wood |first1=Robert |title=The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake: Revisited |last2=Mignan |first2=Arnaud |date=2009 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-8608-3 |editor-last=Mendes-Victor |editor-first=Luiz A. |pages=130, 138 |chapter=A Phenomenological Reconstruction of the Mw9 November 1st 1755 Earthquake Source |editor-last2=Sousa Oliveira |editor-first2=Carlos |editor-last3=Azevedo |editor-first3=João |editor-last4=Ribeiro |editor-first4=António}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bressan |first=David |date=30 June 2013 |title=The Earth-shattering Loch Ness Monster that wasn't |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/the-earth-shattering-loch-ness-monster-that-wasnt/ |access-date=12 April 2022 |website=Scientific American Blog Network |language=en |archive-date=4 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404132705/https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/the-earth-shattering-loch-ness-monster-that-wasnt/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Optical effects====
Wind conditions can give a choppy, [[Diffuse reflection|matt]] appearance to the water with calm patches appearing dark from the shore (reflecting the mountains and clouds).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Oliver |date=2023 |title=Nessie and Noctilucent Clouds: A Meteorological Explanation for Some Loch Ness Monster Sightings |url=https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/coolabah/article/view/43171 |journal=Coolabah |issue=34 |pages=25–45 |doi=10.1344/co20233425-45 |access-date=7 July 2023 |archive-date=6 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706161005/https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/coolabah/article/view/43171 |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref> In 1979, W. H. Lehn showed that atmospheric [[refraction]] could distort the shape and size of objects and animals,<ref>W. H. Lehn (1979) ''Science'' vol 205. No. 4402 pages&nbsp;183–185 "Atmospheric Refraction and Lake Monsters"</ref> and later published a photograph of a [[mirage]] of a rock on [[Lake Winnipeg]] that resembled a head and neck.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lehn, W. H. |last2=Schroeder |first2=I. |year=1981 |title=The Norse merman as an optical phenomenon |journal=Nature |volume=289 |issue=5796 |page=362 |bibcode=1981Natur.289..362L |doi=10.1038/289362a0 |s2cid=4280555}}</ref>

====Seismic gas====
Italian geologist Luigi Piccardi has proposed geological explanations for ancient legends and myths. Piccardi noted that in the earliest recorded sighting of a creature (the ''[[Vita Columbae|Life of Saint Columba]]''), the creature's emergence was accompanied "''cum ingenti fremitu''" ("with loud roaring"). The Loch Ness is along the [[Great Glen Fault]], and this could be a description of an earthquake. Many reports consist only of a large disturbance on the surface of the water; this could be a release of gas through the fault, although it may be mistaken for something swimming below the surface.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Seismotectonic Origins of the Monster of Loch Ness |url=http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001ESP/finalprogram/abstract_7279.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100515091035/http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001ESP/finalprogram/abstract_7279.htm |archive-date=15 May 2010 |access-date=28 May 2009 |publisher=Gsa.confex.com}}</ref>