Mirage Images

Where is the Island? In autumn, cold air descends on warm water to create an inferior mirage. Lower parts of this island disappear while higher parts have a reflected counterpart in the inversion layer above.

In this superior mirage of a boat there is one object, and several mirages. The first mirage is right side up, the second upside-down, and so on. This type of mirage is seen less frequently than the inferior mirage, which can be seen on an autumn sea or on hot asphalt.

This inferior mirage would not be visible from the sailboat in the center foreground. This mirage is only visible from the elevation of the camera. The sailors may see a different mirage from their point-of-view depending upon their relationship to the height of the active inversion layer.

This photo captures a rare sunset. The sun is descending through multiple inversion layers. The center section is likely the actual disk. The other sections are mirages caused by different atmospheric layers above and below.

All Photos copyright Pekka Parvianinen. http://www.polarimage.fi/
Visit Pekka's web site to see hundreds ofadditional mirage, and other atmospheric phenomenon photos, including movies of mirages.