![]() "You just have to watch for them." ( Learn about "hole punch" clouds. "You can see some pretty cool things in the atmosphere," LeMone says. That kind of mirage is known as an inferior mirage because the light rays bend in such a way that our brain thinks an object is lower than it actually is. LeMone hasn't ever seen one in person, but she's seen the reverse-a reflection of the sky on the road-plenty of times. "But can happen anywhere." People have even seen fata morgana in the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily. They're common in polar regions, says Teresa Wilson, a graduate student in physics at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, in an email. So Coleman thinks the video could be real.įata morganas can be quite common in certain parts of the world as long as conditions are right, says LeMone. And some of the buildings in the city below the clouds look similar to what shows up in the sky. ![]() "They did have temperature inversions going on during that time period," she says. And according to historian Tim Maltin, a fata morgana could have contributed to the sinking of the Titanic.Ĭoleman looked at atmospheric conditions over Jiangxi and Foshan, China, during the time the video was supposedly shot. In fact, this type of mirage could be how the myth of the Flying Dutchman-a ghost ship that sails the high seas-got its start. It would probably have looked very different to someone standing in the center of the city.Ī fata morgana is why people can sometimes see ships "flying" through the sky or a "wall" of water dominating the horizon. That's likely why in the video, "the city looked like it was floating on cloud nine," she says. (Learn about other weird atmospheric phenomena.)Īnd since a person's perspective can alter the appearance of a fata morgana, the further away from an object a person is, the taller the object will appear, says Coleman. Those light rays are bent in such a way that our brains are tricked into thinking an object is higher than it really is. This kind of layering will bend light rays as they pass from one air mass into the next. They usually occur over large bodies of water since the air tends to be relatively cooler close to an ocean or lake surface, but can form over land too. See also: cloud, floating, like, on Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. When you finally find your soulmate, its the most wonderful feeling, like floating on a cloud. This is called a temperature inversion, since it's the reverse of what usually happens in the atmosphere. like floating on a cloud Eliciting a euphoric feeling. To get a fata morgana, you need cold dense air near the ground with a layer of warmer air above it, Coleman says. It could be something called a fata morgana, she says, which is a certain kind of atmospheric mirage. " if it is real, it's called a superior mirage, which just means it's an upward projecting mirage," says Jill Coleman, an atmospheric scientist at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. "It looks almost too good," says Peggy LeMone, an atmospheric scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. And explanations for this startling video range from a secret NASA project to an elaborate hoax to an actual atmospheric phenomenon.Įxperts hesitate to say the video is real. Video of a mysterious cityscape in the clouds hovering over a Chinese city has gone viral this week. Video of the "floating city" above a town in China.
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