In the arctic mirage a distant object appears right way up but higher up than the actual location. Though arctic and desert mirages seem to be quite different, they share a common fundamental cause. It is that light rays passing from an object through air to an observer always refract (bend) in the direction of increasing air density.
Was this a mirage, the northern lights or what? A possible explanation is the Parry arc named after the explorer, W. E. Parry, who first reported seeing the phenomenon while searching for a northwest passage in 1819-1820. The Parry arc is actually moonlight or sunlight deflected by passing through elongated airborne ice crystals.
This type of arctic mirage differs from "inferior" mirages, those that occur in deserts or over hot road surfaces, because the air layers are reversed. In a desert or on hot blacktop, heated air lies at the surface, covered by a layer of cooler air.
Even when the air is stagnant, there is enough air movement to cause the mirage images to come and go rapidly. Unfortunately, the same layering that gives us glorious mirages compounds the severe air pollution problem in the Fairbanks area.
Fata Morgana, also known as Morgan le Fay, was a fairy enchantress skilled in the art of changing shape. In one traditional story she was King Arthur's sister and learned many of her skills from Merlin the Magician. A special type of complex mirage, one that sometimes gives the impression of a castle half in the air and half in the sea, is named after Fata Morgana. She was known to live in a ...