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rare mirage off China shore...

someone will probably have the proper history of this, but i do remember reading about this phenomenon, due to the curvature of the earth's surface, it is possible to see something that is "over the horizon" in certain climatic situations. i didnt read the whole article, but i am assuming this is a view of a city beyond the line of sight

edited to add this link:
http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/elements/supmrge.htm

i like how the above link explains it in fairly simple terms, but the original article chose not to explain it at all, instead simply saying it has happened for centuries and gained the city the reputation of being on the gods, haha.
 
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gfunkusarelius said:
someone will probably have the proper history of this, but i do remember reading about this phenomenon, due to the curvature of the earth's surface, it is possible to see something that is "over the horizon" in certain climatic situations. i didnt read the whole article, but i am assuming this is a view of a city beyond the line of sight

edited to add this link:
http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/elements/supmrge.htm

i like how the above link explains it in fairly simple terms, but the original article chose not to explain it at all, instead simply saying it has happened for centuries and gained the city the reputation of being on the gods, haha.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link...interesting...I suppose it is because the picture in the original link seems quite clear...I suppose it could be doctored. Hmmm.
 
The best mirage that I've seen happened when I was manning an army weatherstation. Just on the line of horizon there was an oil tanker going towards St. Petersburg. There was also an upside-down copy of the same tanker floating above it. Too bad I didn't have a camera.

It was common to see ships or upper halves of ships floating in air but that was the only time when I saw an inverted ship.
 
How was the clarity of the image? I guess I always think of them as being sort of "wavey" like the heat waves you see off the desert (but I could be completely influenced by desert movies...)?
 
That looks to me nothing like a mirage and a lot like a crude image manipulation. I can hardly think of an image that would be easier to fake than a mirage. I didn't see anyone named in the article who claimed to have seen it. Very suspicious.
 
headscratcher4 said:
How was the clarity of the image?
Click to expand...

The event happened ten years ago and my memories may have degraded so take this with a grain of salt.

The lower part of the oil tanker that was the right way up was distorted, in a wavy way, like you see things through a heat haze. The superstructure of the tanker was clear. I'm pretty certain that the upside-down copy looked just like that, also: with the downwards-facing superstructure being clear and upwards-facing bottom hazy.

The mirages happened on warm summer days (over 20 degrees celcius). I can't remember what the visibility conditions were, except that they had to be clear enough for us to see the shipping lane that was about 10 km away, just the perfect distance that most East-bound ships would be at horizon as our station was quite close to sea level.
 
i will concede that this image looks pretty suspicious, but even if it isnt 'shopped, it definitely isnt indicative of a supernatural phenomenon.
 
Mists rising on the shore created an image of a city, with modern high-rise buildings, broad city streets and bustling cars as well as crowds of people all clearly visible.

So basically the claim is that a mirroring effect is created such that you can see a reflection of the coast that you're standing on?

That's the only way I can think of that it could conceivably work, although whether that's at all possible atmospherically is a different question (and I don't know the answer)

The picture definitely looks like a bad photoshop job, though.
 
drfrank said:
Mists rising on the shore created an image of a city, with modern high-rise buildings, broad city streets and bustling cars as well as crowds of people all clearly visible.

So basically the claim is that a mirroring effect is created such that you can see a reflection of the coast that you're standing on?

That's the only way I can think of that it could conceivably work, although whether that's at all possible atmospherically is a different question (and I don't know the answer)

The picture definitely looks like a bad photoshop job, though.
Click to expand...


In order for the mirage of the cityscape to appear rightside up, wouldn't it have to be a mirage of a mirage?
 
drfrank said:
So basically the claim is that a mirroring effect is created such that you can see a reflection of the coast that you're standing on?
Click to expand...
Not a retroreflection. If it's like the usual mirages, it lets you see past the horizon.

I agree that the photos are "too good" and don't look real. *ponder* Gee, I wonder whether the news agency hired a certain grandfather on the strength of his work "documenting" the effects of microwave-boiled water on plant growth...

[edit] I don't think it unlikely that a spectacular mirage did occur where and when they say it did. But I don't believe those photos represent it, I think they've been doctored. And I suspect that's why the "mist" is necessary -- to explain the ugly join in the images. The mirages with which I'm familiar appear in clear air.
 
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I can't speak for this particular example, but there's an atmospheric phenomenon that's been documented, where moisture in the air, under exactly the right conditions, makes a kind of "lens" effect, and magnifies whatever's on the other side extremely clearly, so that you can see individual leaves on trees miles away.

I think it usually happens over water, and it's more likely in the Southern Hemisphere, but it's been awhile and I can't recall the source, so I could definitely be wrong.

Either way, it's not a paranormal effect, it's just a neat one.
 
The illustration is faked. Mirages do not magnify*, they merely bend, light- so a city seen as that close would actually have to be that close. The text does not make it clear, but the only way I could believe this, is if that is in fact the same city the mirage was seen from- ie it was a reflection of some kind rather than a refractive mirage.

* Hmm- maybe they could, but there would be associated loss of image resolution. That picture is way too clear.


Only two months ago, I saw the lights of Atyrau (Gureyev on Soviet maps), in western Kazakhstan, from a drilling rig in the Caspian sea. Atyrau was between 40 and 60 miles away, certainly below the horizon and invisible in daylight. Interestingly, the effect was visible only within a narrow band of height, which varied over time. At one point, though clear from sea level, it vanished as I ascended an outside stair.
The image was simply that of a glow of street lights clustered in large numbers. It had to be Atyrau as there is absolutely nothing else on that bearing. Still it looked like a town at very considerable distance- ie no larger than it would have looked from a few thousand feet up in an aircraft on a clear night, from the same distance.
 
I don't think the image is a fake, but I also don't thing this is as spectacular as they're making out. My guess is that the coastline is really there, maybe with a few coastal buildings and so on, but the mirage has created a kind of vertical elongation of the opposite coast, making it look like a city.
 
A bit like this crude photoshopping by me... :)

361744637211103c3.jpg
 
It looks to me like this is what is called Fata Morgana. It's a very complex and very cool type of mirage. Google is your friend.
 
A story of a US submarine during WWII mentioned this phenom. Book was "Thunder Below", if I recall. Through the periscope, the Captain saw a similar mirage of a Japanese convoy, way past the horizon. He guesstimated course and cut them off at the pass. Then cut them off at the knees.
 
This story was reported on the Coast to Coast website, so it has to be true.

Idiot woos.
 
I'm very impressed by all those who instantly declare the image to be fake.

With no other evidence, the image exhibits no indication of being falsified. There is clearly an existing landmass in the distance. It appears to run the entire length of the far side of the bay. The close-up photo shows a horizontal reflection symmetry line (about 1/3 the way down) and several continuous striations that run the whole horizontal distance of the mirage. I see no indication that it is nothing more than a fata morgana mirage of either existing structures, or more likely, rocky outcrops on the far shore.

It's the description that's a load of manure ... "Mists rising on the shore created an image of a city, with modern high-rise buildings, broad city streets and bustling cars as well as crowds of people all clearly visible."

Image of a city, perhaps. Broad city streets? Yeah, right. Bustling cars? Where? Crowds of people clearly visible? In your dreams.

Anyone who has studied atmospheric phenomena would find the image novel, interesting, even unusual ... but certainly not unexplainable. Once you understand how the atmosphere works, there's nothing here to even raise an eyebrow.

- Timothy
 
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