The Novaya Zemlya Effect has to be one of the reasons why there is a scarcity of vampire polar explorers. The effect happens near the poles, where atmospheric physics and the sun combine to make sunrise and sunset a little more unpredictable than other places. We'll tell you about the physics of sun mirages, and how extreme they can get.The picture directly below is not, actually, a picture of the Novaya Zemlya Effect. The effect happens at the poles, generally only during certain seasons, and is subject to atmospheric conditions. As such, it's very hard to get on camera. This is a picture of a sun mirage in a very dark sky. Odds are, the sky is dark because the sun, though visible, is already down. Almost everyone has seen sun mirages. There have probably been times when you've seen a tiny pool of light spread below the sinking sun on the horizon. At other times, the sun may have seemed distorted into a square or a rectangle, or there may have been bright spots of light above it as it rose or set.
