MIRAGES—GORDON 341 
should show in a picture, so I hurried down for my camera, but got 
back too late. 
Normally Operation Distortion changes the base of the object very 
little, often not at all. Here the length of base of the mountain was 
not more than one-third that of the range, something I have not 
seen in any other distortion mirage. It is possible that the Cocopah 
Range was not the object of the mirage at all. There is, a few miles 
nearer, and in the same general direction, an isolated rocky hill known 
as Volcano Butte, not much over 300 feet high as remembered, not 
normally seen even with binoculars. It may have been the object 
which became a great shining peak. In any event, it was a beautiful 
show, magnificently staged. 
More recently, from the same spot, a slightly similar buildup of 
Picacho Peak was observed. In this case, only the upper portion of 
the object was involved; the lower part and adjoining hills were not 
changed. My drawing (fig. 4) attempts to give an idea of the dis- 
tortion brought about. The shining whiteness of the extended por- 
tion with the sunlight on it was reminescent of the Fujiyama-like 
mountain. Radiosonde reports that morning from the Yuma Test 
Station, some 10 miles east, showed a weak temperature-inversion 
fy.’ —- = = 
= = } VY, Ap al pas - 4 = 
ae = a Pike Way Wg — ee 
Ee Sy) , a “ft iit i) ¥ 
Ficure 4.—The Picacho Mirage. Upper: The normal skyline of Picacho Peak, a pre- 
cipitous rock mass which rises to an elevation near 2,000 feet, 20 miles north of Yuma, 
Ariz., one of the annual climbs of California’s Sierra Club. ‘The famous Picacho Mine 
was near its east base. Lower: The mirage of Picacho Peak observed about 8:30 a.m., 
February 20, 1958. The skyward extension was an estimated 600 to 700 feet. Most 
of the extended portion was shining white. The appearance lasted more than half an 
hour with little change except for a drifting band of stratus clouds which hid the central 
portion of the peak much of the time. 
