Based on air-sea flux algorithm and parabolic approximation method, mathematical model for the optical propagation tracing was established. Maximum Inter-Visvion Ranges(MIVR) was evaluated, and the root cause of Mirage was analyzed. Numerical analysis and sea experimental results showed that MIVR decreases with the reduction of the temperature difference (ΔT) between the air and sea when wind speed is kept constant. Under the invariant ΔT, MIVR decreases with the increase of wind speed. The decrement of MIVR decreases with ΔT decreasing. The values of MIVR decrease linearly with the height of the sensor-target. The experiment proved that evaluation of MIVR with the model has high accuracy.