Inferior Mirage_(IMG_4136a) - a photo on Flickriver

Inferior Mirage_(IMG_4136a)

            This photo, taken in summertime, shows an 'Inferior Mirage' over the sand and salt flats on the southeast edge of the seasonally dried-up Salt Lake at Akrotiri in Cyprus.  

A mirage is a real optical phenomenon produced when light is refracted, or bent, by passing through layers of air of different temperature / density resulting in at least one inverted image. Mirages are typically small, distant phenomena and therefore this mirage was photographed with the camera's zoom lens set to its highest telephoto setting. The picture has also been slightly cropped to a 16 x 9 format, removing some of the sky.

An 'inferior mirage' occurs when there is a strong vertical temperature gradient near the ground surface, with substantially warmer air at the surface and cooler air above. Typically this is caused by strong heating of the ground surface by the Sun. A desert mirage is a classic example of an inferior mirage, and this mirage over the sand and salt flats is formed in exactly the same way as that over a hot desert surface. 

Rays of light from distant objects are refracted as they pass through the steep vertical temperature / density gradient just above the ground and are bent upwards towards the cooler, denser air. From the view of the observer, the resulting miraged image is inverted and appears displaced downwards so that it is lower than the apparent 'real' image. This type of mirage is called 'inferior' to denote that the miraged image appears lower than the normal image. 

The mirage in the photo clearly shows inverted, mirror-images of terrain and vegetation. The illusion of water on the ground - so typical of desert mirages (and also of 'hot-road' mirages) - is actually refracted light from the sky and other distant objects.

Taken in: Cyprus / Lemesos / Akrotíri (show map)

Taken on: August 7, 2017

Tags:

mirage

zoom lens

telephoto

telescopic

miraged

Akrotiri

salt lake

desert mirage

Limassol

Cyprus

Akrotiri Salt Lake

Limassol Salt Lake

salt flats

sand flats

sand and salt flats

Lemesos

mirror-image « less

Sets appears in: • Mirages

Groups appears in: • fata morgana

Camera: Canon EOS 1100D, f/8.0, 1/500 sec, 250mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 1100D
Lens:	EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length:	250mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 18.0 (Windows)
Show full info

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