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Modern Mysteries

Finnish 'ghost island' appears out of nowhere

By T.K. Randall
February 28, 2019 · Comment icon 10 comments

Is this really an island or is something else going on ? Image Credit: Twitter / Lapin rajavartiosto
A border control team in Finland couldn't believe their eyes when they spotted a whole new island in Lake Inari.
The island, which seemed to have appeared completely out of nowhere in the middle of the frozen lake in Finland's northernmost Lapland region, gave the team quite the shock, however as it turned out, not everything was quite as it seemed.

"A new island has emerged in front of Papinsaari," border patrol Tweeted. "The Ivalo patrol has captured this phenomenon on the camera in a clear -25 C frost."

But could an entire island really have appeared so quickly and without any sign of volcanic activity ?
As it turns out, what the patrolmen were actually seeing was not an island at all but a mirage - a convincing visual phenomenon that is more typically associated with hot desert environments.

It is caused by the way light travels through atmospheric layers when there is a steady temperature gradient - reflecting and refracting the landscape in unexpected ways.



Source: Sputnik International | Comments (10)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by Jon the frog 5 years ago
Wow !
Comment icon #2 Posted by RoofGardener 5 years ago
EGADS... could it be........  ATLANTIS ?  
Comment icon #3 Posted by DieChecker 5 years ago
Essentially a mirage? 
Comment icon #4 Posted by Nnicolette 5 years ago
Wow I have never seen such a convincing mirage! Why is it so detailed?
Comment icon #5 Posted by NCC1701 5 years ago
Probably it is so detailed because the cold air is very still compared to mirages in hot air.
Comment icon #6 Posted by Jon the frog 5 years ago
Yep Roof, Surely Atlantis ! 
Comment icon #7 Posted by NotWhoYouThink 5 years ago
wasn't Atlantis in the Atlantic? it would make more sense than it coming out of a lake
Comment icon #8 Posted by bison 5 years ago
Those vertical sections that look like panels in a sea wall, are quite common in mirages. They're sometimes called ramparts. The details of distant terrain get stretched and smeared out by atmospheric refraction, giving them a nearly uniform, wall-like appearance. 
Comment icon #9 Posted by MissJatti 5 years ago
I didn't know you could take a photo of a mirage.
Comment icon #10 Posted by kel_kel 5 years ago
The light rays that create that image are real. Your eye can see them, and your camera can record them.


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