(ORDO NEWS) — Ukrainian polar explorers witnessed an unusual phenomenon. They found giant icebergs that seemed to “float” in the air above the surface of the waters of the Southern Ocean. They saw mirages like you can see over hot asphalt or in the desert.
This is reported by the National Antarctic Science Center.
Over the waters of the oceans, such mirages occur only in the polar regions and only in the Antarctic region. This is all due to the fact that cold air can go out to warm.
Mirage is formed due to the refraction of light, that is, the internal reflection of objects in the atmosphere. In mirages, you can see imaginary objects or whole images.
Hot air is collected in a thin layer above the surface and does not mix with cold air. The phenomenon is similar in nature to a crooked mirror. During a mirage, even the horizon may not be real.
The greater the contrast between warm and cold air, the lower the imaginary horizon line and the larger the mirage. Polar explorers at the Akademika Vernadsky station say that in Antarctica, mirages can last for several days or even weeks.
The phenomenon is beautiful, unusual, but often inconvenient. A person gets used to one horizon, sees it every day, and then at one moment it disappears, and one has to get used to new species.
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