Golden Gate Photo - Mirage Gallery
Fine Art Photography of Mirages from Death Valley.
The mirages on this page are called inferior mirages. Not that they aren't as good as other ones, an inferior mirage is a inverted image below the original image, caused by a reflection on a layer of air. This often occurs when a layer of air forms just above the ground surface that is substantially hotter than the air above it. So when the Sun beams down on a surface, especially a dark-colored one like asphalt, the air above it becomes distinctly hot, thus less dense, and light refracts off the surface of that layer and projects a mirror image to the viewer. If you ever saw a mirage of water on dry pavement, that is a mirror image of the sky. Albeit rare, there are also superior mirages, which are reflections off layers higher in the atmosphere that project images above the original object. The images shown here were all taken in Death Valley during a mellow 100oF (38oC) May afternoon.
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Inverted Alluvial Fans
Looking northwest from Devils Golf Course, this ridge from the Panamint Range dissolves into the flat salt plain. The mirrored dark lower portions of the alluvial fans can be seen just above the craggy clay of the Golf Course.
Print No. C99-26-9
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Mirrored Oasis
Looking northeast from close to the same location as above, the mirror-image line is best defined by the greenery around Furnace Creek. Golden Canyon, amongst the Black Mountains, is in the middle ground and the Funeral Mountains are in the background.
Print No. C99-24-7
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Mirrored Auto and Floating Mountain
The hot air above the asphalt reflects the sky, the car and its headlights. In the distance, the hot air above the road completely obscures the road, resulting in the floating mountain, part of the Amargosa Range about 24 miles (40 Km) to the north-northwest.
Print No. C99-29-11
More images of Death Valley
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