Why do city lights appear to flicker when seen from a plane?

Question

I've heard it has something to do with "air inversion," whatever that is, but I can't find much else. Please help!

Answer 1

The atmosphere tends to bend light, which causes us to see flickering

Answer 2

It's much more simple than air inversion. The flickering is an illusion caused by the different densities of air that the light travels through to get to your eye. The light bends and refracts because of the different densities. Stars in the sky do this, too. You can also see this bending and refraction of light on a hot day looking down a long road...

Answer 3

I think it might be due to interference (a phsyics term).
This is a phenomenon that affects light viewed from a distance. A similar effect would be that of stars twinkling.
The light from the object is bent a little and the phase shift causes constructive and destructive interference. This makes the object alternatively brighter then duller = twinkling.

Answer 4

Ahhhh,, very sturdy question. Our pilot changed into early so after about 20min of staring i ultimately concluded it! We forget at evening, yet there are timber and homes, so at an perspective the lights fixtures get blocked for a moderate second and seem flickering to the interest. desire that enables, -Alexis IM me in case you'll like

Answer 5

It's the same principle as a twinkling star. Avoiding all the physics stuff, there are air currents in between you and the light. These currents carry debris, water vapor or both to disrupt one's vision for microseconds causing the blinking, twinkling effect.

Answer 6

Bugs

Answer 7

because on and off u fly over clouds that blocking the veiw of the lights making u think that they are flikering.