Baikal has ideal conditions for the emergence of mirages: streams of warm air over chilled water in summer, transparent atmosphere and severe frosts with immovable air in winter. In layers of air with different densities, light rays are refracted, distorted and take on irregular, fantastic shapes. Thus, a cyclist in the haze of the road may appear to be a Boeing landing, a small fishing boat may appear as a Titanic hovering over water, and a floating duck may be perceived as a large boat.
Where do optical wonders occur?
Mirages are regularly recorded off the northeastern part of Olkhon Island, near Solnechny Cape and near Bolshoi Ushkaniy Island. There are usually 2-6 days with mirages per year, and in some years their number can reach 16. Baikal fishermen call this phenomenon a holomenitsa, when distant objects seem to approach and become clearly distinguishable, although under normal conditions it is simply impossible to see them. About the capes, raised above the water in the air, the Baikal fishermen say that they are hollow. Golomenitsa - "clearing the hassles" - happens during a change of wind. Daytime mirages are often observed in calm summer weather when the lake is completely calm. Most often, mirages are expressed in the soaring of remote capes above the water. From the meteorological station of the Big Ushkany Island, observers recorded mirages,in which the rocky northern contour of Olkhon Island with the characteristic Khoboy rock rose above the horizon and slowly floated to the mainland, as well as unusual red columns of light over Cape Ryty. Unusual mirages of distant vision were observed by local residents from the village. Bolshiye Koty and the villages of Bolshoye Goloustnoye, when it was possible to clearly see the villages on the opposite bank and count all the huts, although the distance between the banks exceeds 40 km and under normal conditions the villages on the opposite bank are inaccessible to the human eye even with binoculars. In winter, the mirages of hummocks hanging over the ice merge with real hummocks and frighten the traveler with their large size and solid palisade of protruding ice floes. As they approach them, their height decreases, and near the mirage completely dissolves and it turns out,that among the hummocks you can freely drive.
Or a ghost train …
Baikal researcher V. V. La-makin in his book "On the shores and islands of Baikal" described a rare night mirage observed by him in 1957 opposite the village of Bolshoye Goloustnoye; “The day before, a strong southwestern wind, called a kultuk, was blowing along Baikal, but we returned when the weather had calmed down. By the evening it had completely calmed down. The night was very dark. Going out on deck early in the night, I saw a striking sight. In front of me, quite close, at a distance of no more than one kilometer, a passenger train was passing over the lake as if through the air. In reality, the train was on the opposite bank of Lake Baikal, i.e. at a distance of 50 km.
The ghost train went completely silent. Of course, no noise and clatter of wheels could be heard at such a distance. The black night and silence emphasized the mystery of the phenomenon. Strictly speaking, the train itself, i.e. the locomotive and the carriages were not visible. Only the illuminated windows in the form of large rectangles were clearly distinguished. Silhouettes of people were visible in some windows. The glowing windows were divided into several groups. They were separated by wider dark spaces. The number of wagons could be counted. The train, silently moving through the air in the black darkness, seemed like a night ghost. He stopped for a few minutes. Apparently, this was the Boyarskaya station. Then the air train went on to Tankhoy."
… or UFO …
The author of these lines observed from a boat in the summer on the horizon of the lake the bizarre outline of a huge object hovering above the water, which could not be identified with any man-made structures on the shores of Lake Baikal. A black blurry object resembling a triangular UFO of a huge size hung above the water with its point downward, it could be clearly seen through binoculars for an hour, and only as it approached it, the image hanging above the water gradually dissolved, and under it could be seen through powerful binocular outline of the large Baikal vessel "Klara Zetkin". An optical mirage, reflected in a haze of warm air over the cold Baikal water, turned the image of the ship over the water and enlarged it tenfold, giving it an unrecognizable and absolutely fantastic look.
… maybe an English castle?
In the water area of Lake Baikal, one can often observe inverted mirrored silhouettes of ships, perceived at a great distance as mysterious and inexplicable large objects hovering above the water. Sometimes you can see the reflection of remote Baikal capes and islands, raised high above the water, usually not visible due to their remoteness. Local newspapers periodically report unusual mirages. So, in one of the Irkutsk newspapers it was reported about the observation of a mirage in Bolshiye Koty, when a fabulous village, entirely consisting of neat orange houses, hung over the water opposite the village. Eyewitnesses noted that the illuminated windows in the huts were clearly visible. This mirage was similar to the famous cases of observations in Greenland and England hanging in the sky, unknown large cities with castles and temples,which could be observed for three hours.
Rendezvous of Fata Morgana and the Northern Lights
Unlike mirages in deserts, the nature of which is associated with refraction in hot air over hot soil, Baikal mirages appear above the cold surface of the water and soar high in the air, are called upper mirages or distant vision mirages and are caused by the redistribution of warm and cold layers of air, in air lenses of which light is bizarrely refracted. Atmospheric refraction raises objects, allowing you to look beyond the horizon. Such mirages make it possible to observe objects remote at unimaginable distances - up to 1000 km. This phenomenon is typical for cold regions, especially with significant temperature inversion, when there is a warmer layer above the colder air layer. Sometimes triple mirages are observed, when an inverted analogue appears over an object invisible beyond the horizon,and above it is another correct image. These mirages raised above the horizon can be seen by distant observers.
There is also a third most mysterious group of mirages, called fata morgana, for which no convincing explanation has yet been found. They got their name in honor of the heroine of the epic Fata Morgana, rejected by her beloved Lancelot and from grief settled in a crystal palace at the bottom of the sea. Since then, she has been deceiving sailors with ghostly visions. Among the most mysterious of her creations are the famous image of the sailing ship "The Flying Dutchman", which sailors still see, chrono-mirages of historical battles that took place in the past, and mirages of disappeared mysterious ancient cities with temples and minarets. People have seen mirages since ancient times, about which many legends have survived. The ancient Egyptians believed that a mirage was the ghost of a country that no longer exists in the world.
A similar unexplained mirage was photographed at Cape Rytom. Above the cape, famous for its anomalies and lightning, a clearly visible spatial grid appeared, hovering like a crystal castle over the snowy mountains of the cape. Local fishermen swear that allegedly every winter opposite Goloustsky Cape they see a ghost train with soldiers slowly moving along the ice of Lake Baikal.
Cases of observation of the northern lights are among the rare atmospheric phenomena on Lake Baikal. Intense flashes of cold glow in the atmosphere are observed only from the water area of North Baikal. Above the lake, one can also see optical atmospheric phenomena in the form of standing colored pillars at sunset, bright lightning at night and multicolored rainbows.
S. Volkov “Interesting newspaper. Incredible №16 2008