Canada, is that you? Scientists say Erie mirage could be real

WFRV.COM ^ | 30 JULY 2006 | AP

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

CLEVELAND (AP) Scientists say it's a mirage. Others swear that when the weather is right, Clevelanders can see across Lake Erie and spot Canadian trees and buildings 50 miles away.

Such eyewitness accounts have long been part of the city's history.

``The whole sweep of the Canadian shore stood out as if less than three miles away,'' a story in The Plain Dealer proclaimed in 1906. ``The distant points across the lake stood out for nearly an hour and then faded away.''

``I can see how this could be possible,'' said Lawrence Krauss, chairman of the Physics Department at Case Western Reserve University.

Krauss and Joe Prahl, chairman of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at Case, said mirages can occur during an atmospheric inversion, in which a layer of cold air blankets the lake and is topped by layers of increasingly warm air. When this happens, it can cause the light that filters through these layers from across the lake to bend, forming a lens that can create the illusion of distant objects.

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 and Krauss said such a mirage is rare. But Tom Schmidlin, a meteorologist in the Geography Department at Kent State University, said it's hardly unheard-of.

``It's not terribly unusual. Sailors are always exposed to this kind of thing,'' he said.

Prahl, who regularly sails his 30-foot sloop Seabird from Cleveland to Canada, has never seen it.

But Bob Boughner, a reporter for the Chatham Daily News in Ontario, said he's seen Cleveland from across Lake Erie twice, the first time four summers ago while driving along a road near the lake. He saw it again two summers ago while driving along the same road.

``I happened to look across the lake and, geez, I couldn't believe the sight,'' Boughner said. ``I could see the cars and the stoplights. I could even make out the different colors of the vehicles. It lasted a good two or three minutes.''

Boughner said he remembers an aunt who lived all her life on Lake Erie and recently died in her late 90s, talking about being able to see Cleveland, but he didn't believe her.

``I thought she was making up stories,'' he said. ``But sure enough, I could see the same damned thing. When it shows up, it looks like you can touch it.''

[philsfan24]

i believe it when i see it

[BenLurkin]

Lived in Cleveland for years.

Often thought there were days when we could see the opposite shore.

Folks told us no - - can't be.

Always wondered though.

(Ping for Mr. H-)

[BallyBill]

I believe it. Strange lights people see in the southwest desert are actually car headlights reflecting through the atmosphere from extreme distances. At least that's what they want us to believe.

[Socratic]

I've lived in Huron most of my life within one block of Lake Erie and have witnessed the phenomenon many times. North Bass and Pelee Island aren't usually visible, but during these times all the Lake Erie Islands and many times the Canadian Shore are visible. What makes it seem that they are all the more closer is the fact that the trees seem to float above the water line, then there is a strip of water and then the trees are reflected upside-down in the water. Thus, the trees seem twice as tall as usual and what is usually invisible is made manifest.

[Chode]

it has to be the bending of light, because you have to be 1666' in the air to see a slant distance of 50miles.

[Socratic]

I think those people in ohio may be seeing these things at 2 am when the bars close.

Actually it happens in the morning or early evening. Lakes Michigan and Superior are much larger than Erie and probably seldom are mirror smooth across the expanse. Lake Erie is also much shallower so temperature effects which produce the phenomenon are more pronounced. It's old hat to me.

[GATOR NAVY]

I went through Cleveland on the train once. That's the only time I've been there.

But I have spent a lot of time at sea where I've seen all kinds of mirages and optical phenomena, so I certainly believe it is possible to see the same types of things over a large lake.

[Chode]

the horizon (in miles) is the square root of 3/2 the height.

a man six feet tall will see the horizon at three miles.

[GATOR NAVY]

Things like this are all governed by atmosphic conditions, not the straight height of eye equation.

An Introduction to Mirages

[Chode]

yes, i know... that's what the function i posted proves.

you'd have to be 1666' feet in the air to see 50miles.

[sine_nomine]

They are alien lights but the aliens have convinced us that the source is our own automobiles. That's how clever the aliens are.

[dr_lew]

If you do the geometry, you get sqrt( D h ), where D is the diameter of the earth, so that's

sqrt( 8100 (mile-feet) h/feet ) = sqrt( 7920/5280 h/feet ) miles

or

sqrt( 1.5 h/feet ) miles, exactly! i.e. with this conventional value for the earth's diameter.

Pretty amazing.

[Nowhere Man]

Hmmm, interesting. I know in my case, Labor Day 2001, I stood at the edge of Lake Erie near Erie, PA with my VHF 2 meter handheld (144-148 Mc) amateur radio walkie-talkie and I was able to talk to Canadian amateurs with no effort at all. I was only putting out 1 watt into a "rubber ducky" antenna too. I was going to pull up my truck with the 5/8ths wave antenna on top to talk to Canada but I did not need to, I was doing fine "running barefoot." I did receive the Ontario Provincial Police (OPPD) on my scanner that is just below the amateur 2 meter bad.

I know the atmosphere above Lake Erie can refract radio signals very well, I was talking 50 miles across the lake plut 20 or 30 miles inland into Ontario. I was hitting one of their repeaters very well.

Seeing the Canadian shoreline visually, well, I don't know, but I think it can be possible under the right conditions although it would take a lot more to refract light at its much higher wavelength than it would a VHF radio signal.

[sasha123]

??

[fish hawk]

I see dead people!

[kcmt01]

Ladies and gentlemen, while science and reason try vainly to offer excuses, you have just entered... "The Twilight Zone..."

[frankiep]

What's Canada?

[Carl LaFong]

I think the 'North Shore' folks have been sucking back those Great Lakes Longnecks.