The phenomenon is observed when the air underneath the line of sight is colder in comparison to the air above it. Unlike the inferior mirage, the superior one occurs when an object's image appears above the particular object. Tarmac and sand can get extremely heated if exposed to the sun facilitating the development of a mirage. If the road is tarmacked, it appears like water or oil has been spilled. A person's mind observes this occurrence as a waterbody on the road because water reflects the sky as well, but this illusion fades as the person gets nearer. Light originating from the sky at a slight angle to the sky is commonly refracted by the index gradient to look like the sky is reflected by the surface of the road. This effect is increased when the particular image is magnified using telescope lens or a telescope. A blurred simmering effect is subsequently created which influences the capability to resolve objects. Convection contributes to the variation of the air's temperature while the variation between the heated air at the road's surface and the cool air above results in a gradient in the air's refractive index. This phenomenon, also called the heat shimmer, can be seen by viewing objects through the exhaust gases expelled by jet engines or across the heated asphalt.
Heat haze is a kind of inferior mirage observed when objects are viewed through hot air. The IJsselmeer and Markermeer lakes are some of the water bodies where inferior mirages are common. Inferior mirages can also occur over lakes or oceans by virtue of them being extensive and flat. The fake water or hot-road mirage is a common example of this type of mirage. Several temperature layers can cause some mirages to mix creating double images. The image will subsequently be distorted accordingly, and it can be horizontally or vertically extended or vibrating. It is characteristic of hot air to rise and cooler air, on the other hand, to descend which causes the layers to mix and turbulence to emerge. The image is normally upside down making it seem like the sky image is a water puddle serving as a mirror.
Rays traveling from the top of the object will thus reach lower than the rays from the bottom. The light rays that originate from a distant object travel through almost the same air layers and they are also bent over nearly the same amount. The mirage leads the observer into seeing a bright and bluish area on land in the distance. The object, in this case, is the blue sky or another distant object in the same direction. The mirage is termed as inferior since it lies under the real object. The inferior mirage commonly occurs in the desert, and it appears as a water body in a distance. A mirage can be caught on camera since it is a real optical phenomenon. The term's origin lies in the French word mirage and the Latin mirari which translates to “to wonder at” or “to look at.” Mirages fall either into the superior, inferior or “Fata Morgana” categories. The optical phenomenon called mirage occurs naturally, and it is as a result of the bending of light rays to create a displaced image of either distant objects or the sky.