You're making my comic book brain hurt.
You ask what's this? You posted two references to the 1970's television show. I thought we were discussing the 2017 movie..?
Two things. First, your two references about light refraction are correct for the 1970's show. Good find. You should also note that the 1970's show and even the comics in that era place the island in the
Bermuda Triangle.
Let's go back to the movie. Steve located Dr. Poison's base in
Turkey. Let's apply the 1970's show to the 2017 movie in the same way as your two references. Steve escaped the Germans chasing after him in his World War I era plane, flew nearly
6,000 miles and crashed (luckily) off the island's shore. I don't like linking the television show from nearly 40 years ago with the movie. There are differences, like, secondly...
...the deep
mists in the
movie that surround and shroud the island. Now, let me be honest. Water refracts light.
Mist is composed of water.
Technically, that would mean the island is invisible from the outside looking in due to refracted light. However, I'm motivated to ask are we talking about the same thing? The Germans chasing Steve were surprised by the sudden appearance of the mists--implying the mists appeared out of nowhere. It was only
after the Steve and the Germans
passed through the mists that they saw the island.
To me, the mists are not
bending light to hide the island. The mists are
blocking light. Outside observers see the mists around the island in the same sense as if a dome covered the island. Questions. If this was a case of refracted light creating true invisibility, would an outside observer see anything surrounding the island? Or would the outside observer see nothing at all--since light would, in that case, be
bending around the island?