posted
Scientists say it's a mirage, but others swear that when the weather is right, Clevelanders can see across Lake Erie and spot Canadian trees and buildings 50 miles away.
quote:The scientists said the air has to be extremely calm for the mirage to appear. If the wind blows, it distorts or dissolves the image....Prahl, who regularly sails his 30-foot sloop Seabird from Cleveland to Canada, has never seen it.
Well of course he's never seen it. He doesn't go out on the lake when it is calm....
-------------------- And now for something completely different... Posts: 4164 | From: Alabama | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
The locals say itis real because they do not understand the term mirage. The think of the classic seeing an oasis in the desert which isn't there and equate it with a hallucination. In fact it isn't a hallucination its an optical illusion caused by layers of air at different tempertures distorting the image of the real oasis and making it appear closer than it really is, exactly what the locals are reporting
Posts: 135 | From: UK | Registered: Jan 2006
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As helmsman (driver) of the Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bay (based in Cleveland), I saw the effect several times - and once it was strong enough to bring almost the entire crew up to the bridge to watch it.
Pretty cool when you can see where you are on a chart... that the land is still 42 miles away... and that it looks only a couple miles off.
Glad they didn't let us drink - or I woulda been COMPLETELY rattled!!
-------------------- Opinions aren't excuses to remain ignorant about subjects, nor are they excuses to never examine one's beliefs & prejudices...
Babies are like tattoos. You see other peoples' & they're cool, but yours is never as good & you can't get rid of it. Posts: 5622 | From: Jax, Florida | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
This effect has been discussed in-depth in this thread. Complete with links to some amazing photos of the phenomenon.
-------------------- "Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you." - C. G. Jung Posts: 243 | From: Marina del Rey, CA | Registered: May 2005
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Richard W
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
quote:Originally posted by Mycroft: The locals say itis real because they do not understand the term mirage.
I was going to say, why is there a "but" in that sentence? If it's a valid mirage then they can see across Lake Erie when conditions are right.
Posts: 8725 | From: Ipswich - the UK's 9th Best Place to Sleep! | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
I saw one of these years ago on the Outer Banks and had no idea what it was called. From a hook in the coastline I could look across the ocean and see people on a point that was at least two miles away. It was the tower type, b/c I was wondering why the people looked tall & skinny.
-------------------- No man has a right in America to treat any other man "tolerantly" for tolerance is the assumption of superiority. -Wendell L. Willkie Posts: 3833 | From: Virginia | Registered: Oct 2001
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I'm having trouble with this title. A mirage IS REAL, that's why it is called a mirage.
I think it means the mirage is an image of objects that exist as opposed to something like a mirage of water on the road. In that case there is no actual water on the road, but seeing a mirage of a coastline is seeing something that does actually exist - you're just seeing a reflection of it.
-------------------- No man has a right in America to treat any other man "tolerantly" for tolerance is the assumption of superiority. -Wendell L. Willkie Posts: 3833 | From: Virginia | Registered: Oct 2001
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Richard W
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
The objects in the water-on-the-road mirage "exist" in the sense that you're actually seeing an existing part of the sky, or existing objects above the horizon, refracted in hot air so that it looks like a reflection on the road. It's just that you automatically interpret a reflection on the road as being a (non-existent) pool of water.
Posts: 8725 | From: Ipswich - the UK's 9th Best Place to Sleep! | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
I didn't see this particular effect when I lived in Cleveland, but I heard it reported by locals and more than one customer received roaming charges from Canadian cell phone towers when using a phone anywhere near lake Erie. I wouldn't be at all surprised if one could "see" Canada from the shore under certain conditions.
-------------------- "If I didn't see it and didn't know it was a real news report, I wouldn't believe it. I mean, how nutty can you get?"-Pat Robertson Oct 26, 2006. Posts: 2936 | From: Mean Streets of West Virginia | Registered: Feb 2003
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