Numerical simulation of mirages above water bodies

Abstract

A mirage or fatamorgana is typically an upside-down “mirror” image of a scenery in deserts, over sun-heated roads, or above bodies of water. When the temperature gradient of air is large, as can happen near a surface, it results in a large gradient of the density and the refractive index as a function of height. Mirages appear when light travels through a medium with a gradient in its refractive index and, therefore, get bent towards the higher values, generating reflected images. A computer program that simulates mirages above water using the method of ray tracing has been developed and is presented here in detail for educational purposes. Results on the effect are shown by simulated images for various water-air temperature-difference cases with values ranging from 5 to 0 °C. Comparison of the simulations to a real-life scenario at Lake Balaton, Hungary has also been provided.