LABORATORY SIMULATION OF INFERIOR AND SUPERIOR MIRAGES

A small scene, viewed over a heated plate, exhibits many of the typical inferior-mirage effects. As the viewing point is lowered, a mirage lake appears, and a vanishing line rises on the scene, showing objects apparently reflected in a rising surface of water. Several kinds of superior mirages are simulated by viewing objects through a water tank containing fresh water layered over salt water. The system simulates towering, stooping, various forms of the Fata Morgana, and the three-part mirage. © 1987 Optical Society of America.