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From: king@kestrel.ARPA (Dick King)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,sci.misc
Subject: Re: The Last Word on Friedman, Sevener, and Cuba
Message-ID: <35238@kestrel.ARPA>
Date: 21 Mar 88 16:11:11 GMT
References: <3699@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <9979@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> <1625@louie.udel.EDU>
Organization: Kestrel Institute, Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 51
Summary: pools of water are opposite to "castles in air"

In article <1625@louie.udel.EDU>, berryh@udel.EDU (John Berryhill) writes:
> oconnor%sungod@steinmetz.UUCP writes:
> >Tim Sevener needs to do some research on MIRAGES. Mirages
> 
> Someone else brought this up, but I thought it was obvious
> to most people here that this isn't going to happen over
> the water between Key West and Cuba.  John Carr threw in a
> snide comment about temperature inversion.  Everybody
> has seen the shimmering "pools of water" on a hot road
> in the summer.  A "hot road," that is.  In fact, the road
> surface has to be hotter than the air above it for this
> to happen.  Would Mr. Carr please smugly explain how the
> water surface is going to be significantly hotter than
> the air above it on a nice day in Florida (not over the
> Gulf Stream either)?

Correct.  To see pools of water the road must be hotter than the air.

In the pools of water mirage, objects are seen lower than they
"deserve" to be seen, so you see sky beneath the road surface [which
you perceive as pools of water].  

For Friedman to have seen Cuba, i think we all agree that light must
be refracted so things are seen higher than they deserve to be, ie.,
above the horizon rather than below.  For this to happen air aloft
must be warmer than air near the surface.

This is what an inversion is.  [usually air gets colder as you ascend,
at a rate i believe is called the "lapse rate"; a few deg F. per
thousand feet].  This is also quite possible over the ocean, if the
air above it has any light absorption power at all or if warm air
blows in from Florida or Cuba or the gulf of Mexico [but this last
might be humid enough to raise clouds].

Just a question.  Why are we doing this?  We all agree that Friedman
could have seen clouds over Cuba - they only need to be at 2000 feet,
which is rather low for clouds.  It is of no significance when and
whether it is possible to see Cuba from the Keys; the question we need
to ask is whether Friedman was deluding himself, and i think we can
all conclude otherwise.

> 
> Temperature inversions are significantly influenced by
> the local geography.  A nice flat sea isn't going to
> do much for you.
> 
> --
> John "I can't even see Cape May NJ from the ferry dock at Lewes across
> the Delaware Bay" Berryhill


-dk