What do you need to know about this approaching ship?

The cover photo of the floating boat has caught everyone’s attention as it looks like this huge flat cargo ship is on the water. What you see is not just a mirage, but a superior mirage.

We all know an inferior mirage that creates the appearance of an oasis in the desert. Both lower and upper mirages involve air temperatures and refracted (i.e., bent) sunlight.

The lower mirage occurs when there is very hot air on the surface with colder air on top. The sun’s rays bend through this warmer air and your eye “sees” an apparent image, which is really just a reflection of the sky above.

Here’s a photo showing “water” that looks like it’s on the road’s hot road, but it’s not really, it’s just the sky above.

You would think around here with our warm pavement, in the summer we would see MANY!

A higher mirage occurs when instead of having warmer air on the surface, there is colder air on the surface and hot air above. The light bends upwards instead of downwards, so that the mirage occurs above the ground instead of on the surface:

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If the object of a higher mirage is within your line of sight, or above / above the horizon, that object will be seen face down.

However, if the object is below the horizon, it will appear in a vertical position. This is called an “imminent” mirage:

Getting such a fantastic photo is rarer than mirages. In fact, the sun causes a mirage every day at sunset and sunrise; when you see the full sun sitting on the horizon, all or part of it is really below the horizon. Light bends in such a way through the atmosphere that the sun looks full. You can explore this phenomenon further here.

Have a good week. In the coming days we have some warm changes.

Franc

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