visual distortions that occur fre- quently at lakes in cold temperate regions.
Temperature inversions-i.e., when a layer of warmer air hovers over colder air-are common at lakes, where the water is often several de- grees cooler than the air. In an inversion, Lehn says, horizontal light rays tend to refract downward as they strike cooler, denser air. Light rays reflected from a single point on an object may be bent in varying degrees as they pass through air of different temperatures. The viewer,...