This is illustrated in the above diagram. Because of this bending, we see the object floating in the sky, above or even attached to the original object. In cases of strong looming, the image may appear very high in the sky. Looming of a distant ship may be the source of the many legends of flying ghost ships seen by mariners over the centuries. And since the actual ship may be below the geometric horizon, sailors or shoreline viewers might never see it except as a mirage image.
Temperature increases with height.
However, when the gradient is not uniform, and the temperature increases more rapidly with height as we move away from the surface, then magnification of the object will occur. In many circumstances, we see only a raising of the top of an object to just above its actual position. In such cases, the image appears to be stretched or taller than expected. This situation is called towering . Towering Image Under Superior Mirage Conditions Towering is quite common in polar regions and during the summer near large bodies of relatively cold water when compared to the overlying air temperatures.