Mirage Islands:
Santa Barbara and Santa Catalina 
Imaged by Atmospheric Optics

Mirages are optical effects caused by the Earth’s atmosphere acting as a lens or mirror. They are often seen in the desert, where they look like a shining mirror reflecting the sky or horizon. A mirage can appear below a range of mountains, just like a lake, giving rise to one of the word’s meanings as illusory and or unattainable, since there is no lake there. 

These desert-type mirages are the ones most familiar to most people and are caused by a thin layer of warm air just above a surface. Optically, they are a total internal reflection inside the cooler, denser air farther above the surface. Over the sands of beaches and on highways are other places where they can be seen.

I lived in New Mexico as a youth, where I recall seeing mirages above the perennially dry salt pans on the Llano Estacado (staked or high plains) east of the Sandias. They were also apparent on the highways, which were subject to the state’s famous high levels of direct sunlight. As my father drove, I would count off the seconds it took to pass a landmark by the side of the road to see how far away the “water” was. 

Many times since I’ve seen these glimmering patches when traveling by car. In the Midwest summer, they can appear on the same day as a thunderstorm. Is it water? Birds know the difference – they can be seen drinking out of the real puddles on the highway. There are never birds sipping out of mirages!

While spending time in the East around my college years in the 1980s, I saw mirages in binoculars visible above the horizon over the Atlantic. These looming mirages lifted hull-down ships and distant waves into view that were beyond the horizon along the shores of Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

I now live in San Pedro, California, south of Los Angeles and near the southern coast of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The terrain here slopes steeply towards the Pacific Ocean. My home is located about a half-mile inland and at about 300 feet altitude. I have a direct view from the house across San Pedro Channel to (Santa) Catalina Island and a distant view of Santa Barbara Island as well. I can see ships leaving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. A short hike to the 100-foot seaside bluffs gives me a panorama southeast down the coast beyond Newport Beach and an unobstructed horizon of the Pacific Ocean in the northwest. Besides the beautiful ocean vistas, it's turned out to be a good location for seeing atmospheric optical effects on distant objects. When I moved here, I didn’t realize I was entering a new chapter of mirage viewing. And a new time of joyful atmospheric magic.

I simply enjoyed the ocean views of Catalina and Santa Barbara Islands during my first months. In the Fall of 2002, I got into the habit of taking walks along the bluffs around sunset. That's when I began to notice strange and wonderful phenomena involving the setting sun and the nearby islands. The sunsets were beautiful. Atmospheric extinction was pronounced on some days, so I could directly look at the setting sun, even in binoculars. On several days it looked like an oriental lantern.