Many of us have experienced the mirage effect, for this it is enough to remember how the road in the distance becomes a wave on a hot day. But really big mirages can only be seen in the desert. In general, a mirage is just an optical phenomenon that creates the effect of the visibility of certain objects.
There are three classes of mirages. The first class is inferior mirages. With this kind of mirage, the lower part of the desert, i.e. a small strip of sand optically turns into a kind of reservoir. This can be seen if it is one level above this band. Such mirages are the most common. The second type of mirage is the superior mirage. This is a rarer occurrence, and also less picturesque. Superior mirages appear at great distances and at high altitudes above the horizon. The third class of mirages defies any explanation, and for many years scientists have been puzzling over the solution to this mystery. The most beautiful and fantastic of the mirages is the veil - morgana. As if by magic, the most beautiful castles can appear, which are constantly moving. Another mysterious phenomenon is chrono-mirages, which display events occurring at great distances and in a different time. Such a miracle has been repeatedly observed in many parts of the world, but as a rule, before morning.
What is the reason for the appearance of such amazing phenomena? This is due to the amazing play of light and air. Here's how to understand it. When the air temperature is quite high, and it is higher at the surface of the earth than in higher layers, favorable conditions are created for the occurrence of mirages. The density of air decreases as its temperature rises, and vice versa. And, as you know, the denser the air, the better it refracts light. The rays falling from the sky have a blue spectrum, and some of them are refracted, while the other reaches the human eye and forms an overall picture of the visible sky. That part of the rays that is refracted reaches the ground in front of the person, and, refracting on its surface, also fall into the field of view of the person. We see these rays in the blue spectrum, which is why it seems that there is a blue reservoir ahead of us. This impression is reinforced by the heated air oscillating ahead of us.
If a mirage occurs above the surface of the sea, then everything happens exactly the opposite. Below, above the surface of the water, the air temperature is lower, and with height - higher. With such a combination of circumstances, superior mirages arise, in which we observe the image of an object in the sky.
The most famous mirage is an oasis in the middle of a hot desert, which is seen by tired travelers. No, this is not a dream, this is a real oasis, only it is located many kilometers from this point, and its image is just a projection of an image that is transferred here by repeated refraction of light rays, under ideally created conditions for this.
Do not naively imagine that a mirage is a game of a sick imagination. Their appearance is confirmed by many photographs.
Mirage(fr. mirage - lit. visibility) - optical phenomenon in the atmosphere: the refraction of light streams at the boundary between layers of air that are sharply different in density and temperature. For an observer, such a phenomenon consists in the fact that, along with a really visible distant object (or a section of the sky), its reflection in the atmosphere is also visible.
Mirages are divided into lower ones, visible under the object, upper ones, above the object, and side ones.
inferior mirage
Occurs when there is a very large vertical temperature gradient (falling with height) over an overheated flat surface, often a desert or paved road. The imaginary image of the sky creates the illusion of water on the surface. So, the road that goes into the distance on a hot summer day seems wet.
black mirage
As rare as a side mirage. Can be seen in the mountains, forest, on hills. A black mirage because of the sun is very different colors, but it remains black.
superior mirage
It is observed above the cold earth's surface with an inversion temperature distribution (air temperature rises with altitude).
Superior mirages are generally less common than inferior mirages, but are most often more stable because cold air does not tend to move up and warm air does not tend to move down.
Superior mirages are most common in the polar regions, especially on large flat ice floes with stable low temperatures. They are also observed in more temperate latitudes, although in these cases, they are weaker, less distinct and stable. An superior mirage can be upright or inverted, depending on the distance to the true object and the temperature gradient. Often the image appears as a fragmentary mosaic of upright and inverted parts.
Superior mirages can have a striking effect due to the curvature of the Earth. If the curvature of the rays is about the same as the curvature of the Earth, the light rays can travel long distances, causing the observer to see objects far beyond the horizon. This was observed and documented for the first time in 1596, when a ship under the command of Willem Barents, in search of the Northeast Passage, got stuck in the ice on Novaya Zemlya. The crew was forced to wait out the polar night. At the same time, the sunrise after the polar night was observed two weeks earlier than expected. In the 20th century, this phenomenon was explained and was called the "New Earth Effect".
In the same way, ships that are actually so far away that they should not be visible above the horizon can appear on the horizon, and even above the horizon, as superior mirages. This may explain some of the stories about flights of ships or coastal cities in the sky, as described by some polar explorers.
side mirage
The existence of a side mirage is usually not even suspected. This is a reflection from a heated sheer wall.
Such a case is described by one French author. Approaching the fort of the fortress, he noticed that the smooth concrete wall of the fort suddenly shone like a mirror, reflecting the surrounding landscape, soil, sky. Taking a few more steps, he noticed the same change in the other wall of the fort. It seemed as if the gray uneven surface was suddenly replaced by a polished one. It was a sultry day, and the walls must have become very hot, which was the key to their specularity. It turned out that a mirage is observed whenever the wall is heated enough by the sun's rays. I even managed to photograph this phenomenon.
On hot summer days, one should pay attention to the heated walls of large buildings and look for mirage phenomena. No doubt, with some attention, the number of cases of lateral mirage seen should become more frequent.
Fata Morgana
Complex phenomena of a mirage with a sharp distortion of the appearance of objects are called Fata Morgana. Fata Morgana (Italian: fata Morgana - fairy Morgana, according to legend, lives on the seabed and deceives travelers with ghostly visions) - a rare complex optical phenomenon in the atmosphere, consisting of several forms of mirages, in which distant objects are seen repeatedly and with various distortions .
Fata Morgana occurs when, in the lower layers of the atmosphere, several alternating layers of air of different density are formed (usually due to temperature differences), capable of giving mirror reflections. As a result of reflection, as well as refraction of rays, real-life objects give several distorted images on the horizon or above it, partially overlapping each other and rapidly changing in time, which creates a bizarre picture of a fata morgana.
volumetric mirage
In the mountains it is very rare, under certain conditions, you can see the "distorted self" at a fairly close distance. This phenomenon is explained by the presence of "stagnant" water vapor in the air.
The biggest mirage
The largest known mirage was seen by Crayson Prats and Lekman Donrs in 1879. It happened on the seashore. They spent a lot of time by the water in very hot weather. They immediately noticed when the water rose a meter above the sea and began to move towards them. They immediately took off running. After running a few miles, they fell and watched in horror as the water covered them. As a result, Lekman lost consciousness, and the dumbfounded Crayson got up and came to his senses. In 1886 Narukid Milus saw something similar to what Crayson and Lekman saw.
People have seen mirages since ancient times, about which many legends have been preserved.
On the one hand, it is difficult to find a person who at least once in his life would not see the simplest mirage - a blue lake on a hot highway. On the other hand, thousands of people have observed literally hanging cities, quaint castles and even entire armies in the sky, but here experts have no explanation for this natural phenomenon. 
1. Mirages are of several types: lake, or lower; upper (they appear right in the sky) or distant vision mirages; side mirages. A more complex type of mirage is called "Fata Morgana" 
2.Inferior (lake) mirage. Inferior mirages occur mainly in those cases when the layers of air near the surface of the Earth (for example, in the desert) are heated so much that the rays of light coming from objects are strongly bent. 
3.The victims of mirages are especially often caravans in the Erg er-Ravi desert, that in North Africa. Before people "with their own eyes" at a distance of 2-3 kilometers, oases appear, to which in reality at least 700 kilometers 
4. Superior mirage (distant mirage). The air is heated by the Earth's surface, and its temperature drops with height. However, if a warmer (brought, for example, southerly winds) and highly rarefied air layer appears above the layer of cool air, and the transition between them is rather sharp, then the refraction is greatly enhanced. Rays of light coming from objects on Earth describe a kind of arc and return down, sometimes tens, even hundreds of kilometers from their source. Then there is a "raising of the horizon", or an upper mirage. 
5. The inhabitants of the Cote d'Azur of France on a clear morning have seen more than once how on the horizon of the Mediterranean Sea, where the water merges with the sky, the chain of Corsican mountains rises from the sea, to which from the Cote d'Azur about two hundred kilometers. 
6. Fata Morgana is a complex optical phenomenon in the atmosphere, consisting of several forms of mirages, in which distant objects are seen repeatedly and with various distortions. For this, the most mysterious type of mirage, convincing explanations have not yet been found. But, there are many theories. 
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9. In summer, in hot weather, when the sun is shining brightly, puddles can be seen on the highway in the distance, reflecting the sky. In fact, there are no puddles: this is a visual illusion, a mirage!
The water surface of the lake reflects light rays and creates an image of coastal vegetation. A layer of air can also reflect light rays and create an inverted image of a landscape that is very far away. This happens in hot weather: the heated air rises and there it comes into contact with a cold layer of air. The contact surface, like a mirror, reflects the lush vegetation of an oasis in the waterless desert, which is very far away. Similarly, on the highway, the sky is reflected in puddles that are not really there. 
10. Thousands of tourists and locals witnessed a mirage that lasted for four hours in the city of Penglai off the east coast of China. The mists created an image of the city, with modern high-rise buildings, wide city streets and noisy cars. It rained for two days in Penglai City before this rare weather event occurred. 
11.And this mirage appeared off the coast of the Chinese resort island of Hainan.
The mirage is said to have been caused by abnormally high air temperatures on the island, which are usually unusual for this time of year.
In the video below, you will see a whole ghost town that appeared for a while on the east coast of China.
I have been interested in mysterious natural phenomena since childhood. One of them is mirages. After all, it's just magic - to see something that is not there or is located hundreds of kilometers from the observer. Fairytale, isn't it? As a child, everything seems so simple. Mirage is a small miracle. By the way, not only children think so. After reading a large number of different articles, I made a small discovery for myself. It turns out that people saw mirages in ancient times. And they explained them by the usual intervention of gods or spirits. This information is still kept in various legends.
The crusaders, who went with their good purpose to Palestine, described the mirages especially colorfully and vividly. But, unfortunately, no one believed them. Well, they were very fond of in those days to compose fairy tales about the wonders of the East.
Even before the Crusaders, mirages were observed, and quite often, by the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt. They believed that mirages are nothing but the ghost of a country that disappeared many hundreds of years ago. According to this legend, every place on earth has its own soul. And now the soul of the lost country wandered in the vast Egyptian deserts, trying to find peace.
Yes, the ancients believed in miracles. It turns out that everything is much simpler and the intervention of otherworldly forces for the emergence of mirages is not necessary. In a purely scientific definition, a mirage (fr. mirage - literal visibility) is nothing more than an optical phenomenon in the atmosphere, due to which images of objects appear in the visibility zone, which under normal conditions are hidden from observation.
That is, a mirage is nothing more than a play of light rays. The fact is that in the desert the earth warms up very much. But at the same time, the temperature of the air above the earth at different distances from it varies greatly. For example, the temperature of an air layer ten centimeters above ground level is 30-50 degrees lower than the surface temperature.
All the laws of physics say that light in a homogeneous medium propagates in a straight line. However, under such extreme conditions, the law does not apply. But what happens? The rays simply begin to be refracted at such temperature differences, and at the very earth they generally begin to be reflected, while creating illusions that we used to call mirages. That is, the air at the very surface becomes a mirror.
Although mirages are usually associated with deserts, they can often be observed over the water surface, in the mountains, and sometimes even in large cities. In other words, wherever there is a sharp change in temperature, you can observe these fabulous pictures.
This phenomenon is quite common. For example, in the largest desert of our planet, about 160 thousand mirages are observed annually.
How did the scientific observation of mirages develop?
The first and honorable place can be given to Monsieur Gaspard Monge. This man in 1799 was the first to give a written explanation of this phenomenon, which is quite similar to the modern one. He participated in the Egyptian campaign of the famous commander Napoleon Bonaparte. The members of this expedition went in the direction of the Nile. The monotonous and rather dull appearance of the plains was broken only occasionally by small hillocks, on which villages were sometimes visible.
And then one day the soldiers noticed that periodically the plains seemed to be flooded with water, and the villages seemed to them to be small islands. At the same time, what especially struck the people from the expedition, under each of these islands was its mirror reflection, and the sky was also reflected.
Naturally, coming closer, the mirage dissipated. Naturally, the soldiers interpreted this as the intrigues of enemies and alien gods. And Monsieur Monge explained everything from a scientific point of view, which incomparably helped Bonaparte to restore order in the ranks.
The second place, no doubt, deserved the commander of the ship "Baffin". A significant event occurred in the distant 1820. In the ship's log, he described the most wonderful city, in which there are a huge number of ancient castles and temples. Moreover, this phenomenon was not only recorded, but also sketched in the most detailed way by the same captain. Naturally, his evidence was not confirmed.
The third place can be given to the inhabitants of a small island in the north of England. They saw magnificent white buildings in the sky in 1840. They had never seen anything like it and decided that it was the famous crystal city inhabited by the Finn people. By the way, it is interesting that this vision was repeated after 17 years for three hours.
It is very interesting that although mirages are considered the children of the deserts, Alaska has long been recognized as the undisputed leader in their occurrence. The colder, the clearer and more beautiful the observed mirage.
As common as this phenomenon is, it is very difficult to study it. Why? Yes, everything is very simple. No one knows where and when he will appear, what he will be like and how long he will live.
After a lot of all kinds of records about mirages appeared, naturally they had to be classified. It turned out that, despite all their diversity, only six types of mirages were identified: lower (lake), upper (arise in the sky), side, Fata Morgana, ghost mirages and werewolf mirages.
A more complex type of mirage is called " Fata Morgana". No explanation has yet been found for it. It is customary to refer to the variety of mirages as the aurora borealis or werewolf mirages.
Inferior (lake) mirage.
These are the most common mirages. They got their name because of the places of their origin. As you probably already guessed, Bonaparte's expedition saw them. They are observed on the surface of the earth and water (no wonder their middle name is "lake").
This type of mirage is as simple in origin as the previous one. However, such mirages are much more diverse and beautiful.
They appear in the air. The most spectacular of these are the famous ghost towns. It is very interesting that they usually represent images of objects - cities, mountains, islands - that are many thousands of kilometers away.
Side mirages
They occur near vertical surfaces that are strongly heated by the sun. These can be rocky shores of the sea or lake, when the shore is already illuminated by the Sun, and the surface of the water and the air above it are still cold. This type of mirage is very common in Lake Geneva.
Fata Morgana
Fata Morgana is the most difficult type of mirage. It is a combination of several forms of mirages at once. At the same time, the objects that the mirage depicts increase many times over and are quite distorted.
Interestingly, this type of mirage got its name from Morgana, the sister of the famous Arthur. She allegedly resented Lancelot for rejecting her. To spite him, she settled in the underwater world and began to take revenge on all men, deceiving them with phantom visions.
To fata morganam can be attributed to numerous flying dutchmen “which sailors still see.
They usually show ships that are hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from observers.
Ghost mirages or werewolf mirages.
They produce a special psychological effect on their victims. Some visions baffle even modern scientists. For example, the French colonial detachment crossed the Algerian desert. Nearby they saw a flock of flamingos. But as soon as they crossed the border of the mirage, instead of two legs, each had four. A real Arabian rider in white.
The commander of the detachment, of course, was frightened and sent a scout to check what kind of people were in the desert. When the soldier got into the mirage zone, he figured everything out. But the metamorphosis that happened to him, observed by his comrades, plunged them into shock. The legs of his horse became so long that it seemed that he was sitting on a fantastic monster.
Perhaps there is nothing more to say about the varieties of mirages.
I would like to add that although this is an extremely beautiful and mysterious sight, it is also very dangerous. I kill mirages and drive their victims insane. This is especially true of desert mirages. And the explanation of this phenomenon does not alleviate the fate of travelers.
However, people are trying to fight it. They create special guides, which indicate the places of the most frequent occurrence of mirages, and sometimes their forms.
Well, like everything. By the way, mirages are obtained in the laboratory. Another mystery, hopefully solved. Thank you for your attention.
Mirage in French means "visibility" and is an optical phenomenon in the atmosphere that makes visible objects that are actually far from the place of observation, and displays them in a distorted form or creates an imaginary image. This is one of the most interesting and amazing mysteries of nature. Let's find out more about them.
People have seen mirages since ancient times, about which many legends have been preserved. On the one hand, it is difficult to find a person who at least once in his life would not see the simplest mirage - a blue lake on a hot highway. On the other hand, thousands of people have observed literally hanging cities, quaint castles and even entire armies in the sky, but here experts have no explanation for this natural phenomenon.
Mirages are of several types: lake, or lower; upper (they appear right in the sky) or distant vision mirages; side mirages. A more complex type of mirage is called "Fata Morgana"
Inferior (lake) mirage. Inferior mirages occur mainly in those cases when the layers of air near the surface of the Earth (for example, in the desert) are heated so much that the rays of light coming from objects are strongly bent.
The victims of mirages are especially often caravans in the Erg-er-Ravi desert in North Africa. Before people "with their own eyes" at a distance of 2-3 kilometers, oases appear, which in reality are at least 700 kilometers
Superior mirage (distant mirage) The air is heated by the surface of the Earth, and its temperature drops with height. However, if a warmer (brought, for example, southerly winds) and highly rarefied air layer appears above the layer of cool air, and the transition between them is rather sharp, then the refraction is greatly enhanced. Rays of light coming from objects on Earth describe a kind of arc and return down, sometimes tens, even hundreds of kilometers from their source. Then there is a "raising of the horizon", or an upper mirage.
On a clear morning, the inhabitants of the Cote d'Azur of France have seen more than once how, on the horizon of the Mediterranean Sea, where water merges with the sky, a chain of the Corsican Mountains rises from the sea, to which about two hundred kilometers from the Cote d'Azur.
Fata Morgana is a complex optical phenomenon in the atmosphere, consisting of several forms of mirages, in which distant objects are seen repeatedly and with various distortions. For this, the most mysterious type of mirage, convincing explanations have not yet been found. But, there are many theories.
