Fata Morgana (mirage)
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A fata morgana, Italian translation of Morgan le Fay, the fairy shapeshifting half-sister of King Arthur, is a mirage, an optical phenomenon which results from a temperature inversion.
Fata Morgana are usually seen in the morning after a cold night which has resulted in the radiation of heat into space. In this form of mirage, objects on the horizon, such as islands, cliffs, ships or icebergs, appear elongated and elevated, like "fairy tale castles".
The way this mirage is caused is this: in calm weather, when warm air lies over cold dense air near the surface of the ground, the undisturbed interface between these two air masses can act as a refracting lens, producing an upside-down image, over which the distant direct image appears to hover.
The first mention of the "Fata Morgana" phenomenon in English was in 1818, when this type of mirage was observed in the Strait of Messina, between Calabria and Sicily. It is also commonly seen in high mountain valleys, such as the San Luis Valley of Colorado where the effect is exaggerated due to the curvature of the floor of the valley canceling out the curvature of the Earth. These mirages are also seen in Arctic seas on very still mornings, and are common on Antarctic ice shelves.
Fata Morgana are superior mirages. Superior mirages are distinct from the more common inferior mirages, which create the illusion of distant pools of water in the desert and on hot roads.
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This mirage is an optical phenomenon caused by the refraction of light in air layers with different densities: one cold layer near the surface and warmer air in the general atmosphere.
Due to this mirage, distant objects, close to the horizon, show an inverted image above them. In general there are two kinds of images: inferior and superior. When the inferior air layers by-path the warm sea side (ex. At noon, in vain; or on highways), image overturned found out below object, what personates of inferior mirage.
The appearance of the mirage is explained very easy: Immediately what the look is bended on of a point from the surface of the earth outside of certain the limit, the visual ray penetrates into the warm layers of the air (where the index of refraction are decreased) below a sufficient angle of inclined in order to suffered a sudden deviation.
The effect is identical with the placement of mirrors this in point: The object seems as is doubled - a part superior and one inferior, overturned and identical with first. The curvature surface of the earth and the usual flexion of the rays exercise a big hold over of far-off mirages. In this “line of disappearance” and “limit line” situated a bit higher, found out that part of which object is seen reflected. This mirage is known the girl Morgana.
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