Western US residents report the most UFO sightings — what are they actually seeing?
"It's difficult to explain why we have this many more sightings in the West."
![a flying saucer in the air on the top right shines a beam down into a dark overgrwoth. the silhouette of a person stands center on the dark ground, near a dark wall of trees on the left. they hold a flashlight toward the flying saucer.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/EVmKnfxNCELbuRaVWZZGbV-320-80.jpg)
Those of us in the western U.S. who enjoy vast open spaces may also be more likely to report UFO sightings, a new study suggests.
An analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) reports (UAP is a new umbrella term that includes UFOs not just in the sky but also in space and underwater) suggests local environmental factors play a role in the number of UAP sightings reported.
The study, based on about 98,000 reports over 20 years as cataloged in an open-source, online dataset maintained by the National UFO Research Center (NUFORC), modeled how reported UAP sightings coincide with environmental variables such as light pollution and cloud cover, as well as things like proximity to airports and military installations. The results reveal the majority of reported sightings originate in the western U.S., along with a smaller hotspot in the northeastern U.S.
Related: Pentagon UFO office finds 'no empirical evidence' for alien technology in new report
"It was completely unexpected," Richard Medina, a geographer at the University of Utah who led the study, told Space.com. "It's difficult to explain why we have this many more sightings in the West."
Pinning down the environmental context of these sightings is important when considering explanations for presumed UAP occurrences; it can also help scientists differentiate between non-results and truly anomalous sightings that may be a legitimate threat, said Medina.
He and his colleagues posit that the large number of sightings in the western U.S. can partly be explained by its wide-open spaces and all-year temperate weather, which draw people outside for recreational activities. "People are out and looking skyward," Medina said in a statement
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The West's historical relationship with UAPs could also be contributing to the high number of reports from the region, the researchers say.
Nevada's fabled Area 51, for instance, is infamous as a speculated testing ground for alien technology. The highly classified military facility, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Las Vegas, has tested odd-shaped surveillance aircrafts since at least the 1980s, thus sparking suspicions and conspiracy theories about the U.S. government testing alien technology. After the U.S. government acknowledged the facility for the first time in 2013 and released associated documents, many reports of UFO sightings matched with dates and times of flights of experimental aircraft classified at the time.
In another example, the desert town of Roswell in New Mexico became well-known for the purported crash of a flying saucer back in 1947 after a couple residents came across wreckage of rubber strips and tinfoil. The U.S. Air Force, however, later disclosed the remains were from a classified, multi-balloon project to sniff out Soviet nuclear tests. Such incidents may have led to an increased number of UAP sightings, suggesting people are spotting terrestrial objects but not recognizing them to be such, Medina and his colleagues argue.
"We make no hypotheses about what people are seeing, only that they will see more when and where they have opportunity to," the researchers write in their paper. "The question remains, however, as to what these sighting reports are of."
'What are people actually seeing?'
NUFORC is a public, self-reporting system, although the data bank's website does state its staff removes obvious hoaxes as well as highlights a small subset of potentially interesting, credible cases reported by trained observers such as pilots or those with clear video or photo evidence.
In this dataset, Medina and his co-authors analyzed two factors for sightings in each U.S. county. The first had to do with sky view potential, which includes the region's light pollution, cloud cover and tree canopy cover; the second dealt with the likelihood that objects in general are in the sky, which considers things like proximity to airports and military installations.
"There's more technology in the sky than ever before so the question is: What are people actually seeing?" Medina said in a statement. "It's a tough question to answer, and it is an important one because any uncertainty can be a potential threat to national security."
When the researchers started their analysis, they expected the number of UAP sightings to increase relatively slowly over time, thanks to advances in the internet that improved the ability to report. "But that's not what we see," said Medina. "We see these really unique patterns and we're not sure how to explain those."
For instance, UAP reports across two decades peaked in 2014, when 8,000 sightings were entered into the NUFORC database. Additionally, in a stark contrast to the high number of UAP sightings in the West, the Central and Southern U.S. remain woefully empty. "We really don't know at this point why there are fewer sightings in the south," said Medina. "The results we're getting are supported by the research, but we could still be wrong too," he added.
Early last month, a highly anticipated report by the Pentagon's UFO office found "no empirical evidence" that the U.S. government was covering up knowledge about alien technology and said there was no evidence that any of the reported UFO sightings represented extraterrestrial spacecraft. That report, a 63-page review of classified documents since the 1940s that was mandated by Congress, noted many UAP reports remain unsolved or unidentified due to lack of data. If better quality information were to become available, many of those unresolved sightings could be identified as ordinary objects of phenomena, the report said.
Christopher Mellon, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, previously told Space.com that "hundreds of credible military reports remain unexplained and are continuing to pour in."
Ongoing work by Medina and his team is exploring whether there are temporal patterns in the NUFORC data. Other variables such as drone activity, science balloons and other sociocultural aspects, will also be examined to see whether they correlate with the reported sightings, Medina told Space.com.
"We're just barely getting started."
This research is described in a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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Sharmila Kuthunur is a Seattle-based science journalist covering astronomy, astrophysics and space exploration. Follow her on X @skuthunur.
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WholeWheaty Do yourself a favor. Look at a light pollution map of the United States. I'd say that's the main reason😂. It's a 1:1 correlation. UAP are often appearing as rapidly zig zagging stars in LEO. Well you'd have to be able to see the stars to see them...Reply -
Questioner The desert Southwest is more arid so cloud cover is probably generally lower.Reply
A possibility is people in the west are less self conscious (socially inhibited).
Geographic selectivity lends credence that it is actual, relatively tangible phenomena being observed.
Know it all 'authorities' are very invested in crushing any alternative viewpoints. It undercuts the severity and implied violent enforcement of the 'absolute knowledge' 'authorities'.
Certainty is commonly an addictive drug.
Beware of black swans.... -
Dave Vast open spaces with clearer skies certainly leads to more sightings. This type of data along with clear evidence ("hundreds of credible military reports remain unexplained and are continuing to pour in") needs to be investigated by a mainstream body of scientists who can give an unbiased report concerning UAP's.Reply
For decades the DOD and AARO have misdirected , lied and covered up information about UAP's. Spacecraft have been seen that defy the laws of physics. These spacecraft have not been reported as threats. Intelligent lifeforms observing the earth do not wish contact. They do not wish to be discovered.
There is good news. Bipartisan members of congress are working, doing their best to have the truth revealed to both congress and to the public. -
COLGeek
Dave, I applaud your steadfast belief that these "efforts" will accomplish something. I recommend you keep your expectations low.Dave said:Vast open spaces with clearer skies certainly leads to more sightings. This type of data along with clear evidence ("hundreds of credible military reports remain unexplained and are continuing to pour in") needs to be investigated by a mainstream body of scientists who can give an unbiased report concerning UAP's.
For decades the DOD and AARO have misdirected , lied and covered up information about UAP's. Spacecraft have been seen that defy the laws of physics. These spacecraft have not been reported as threats. Intelligent lifeforms observing the earth do not wish contact. They do not wish to be discovered.
There is good news. Bipartisan members of congress are working, doing their best to have the truth revealed to both congress and to the public.
If there was anything remotely true, from your perspective, it would be the topic of endless news cycles as the very folks you are pinning your hopes on love to be in front of cameras, particularly in these turbulent political times. Anything for air time, no matter how sensational, or true/false/ill-informed for that matter. -
Hardcrunchyscience
Dave, if there was even the TINIEST HINT OF A SHRED (yes, nested 3 deep) of evidence that UAP sightings were aliens from beyond Earth, the DOD and NASA would be on it like starving dogs on a ham bone, wanting MONEY MONEY MONEY to protect us from invading aliens. The DOD and especially NASA have a prime directive to increase their budgets (and influence and importance) as much as possible. Period. You would never hear the end of it, rather than them hushing it up. They would be yammering literally daily, beating the drum for bigger budgets to protect us from the alien hordes. Not decades of silence punctuated by denials. The US defense budget tanked post WWII. If the Roswell artifacts were alien bodies, they would not cover it up, they would have paraded that shit up the National Mall to the Capitol (requiring the networks to all cover it live), saying GIMME. I'm absolutely astounded that they are not making up alien existence rather than covering it up. Anyone with the slightest passing knowledge of politics and budgets would agree. You can't refute this, not possible.Dave said:Vast open spaces with clearer skies certainly leads to more sightings. This type of data along with clear evidence ("hundreds of credible military reports remain unexplained and are continuing to pour in") needs to be investigated by a mainstream body of scientists who can give an unbiased report concerning UAP's.
For decades the DOD and AARO have misdirected , lied and covered up information about UAP's. Spacecraft have been seen that defy the laws of physics. These spacecraft have not been reported as threats. Intelligent lifeforms observing the earth do not wish contact. They do not wish to be discovered.
There is good news. Bipartisan members of congress are working, doing their best to have the truth revealed to both congress and to the public.
NASA and the DOD and the federal government are NOT covering up the existence of aliens, because they all would gain ENORMOUSLY if they existed. Period.
Capiche?? -
Questioner Technological advantage is the ability to exclusively exercise that technology.Reply
Patents are the clumsy legalistic version of that.
Somebody discovers where a rich gold vein is,
do you think they're going to announce it to you?
Seriously, how naive are you?
The problem with having everything covert is ultimately the most sinuous & violent factions will inevitably end up in control.
Those entities, human or not probably don't have our best interests at heart.
The counter problem is letting everyone have access to technology can lead to problems likely even worse than global warming. -
Dave There has never been any suggestion that intelligent lifeforms observing the earth are invading. These ideas are science fiction. Their true purpose for observing is unknown.Reply
Data and logical conclusions is what is needed. There is an absence of sightings in central America. There are no large bodies of water found there either. These are the reasons mainstream scientists need to investigate UAP's.
In the future if all goes well, humankind will build ships to go to the stars. It is likely we will have learned to be one as a species at that time. Who will go to the stars? The military. We will have no need for social aggression. When we find intelligent life and observe another intelligent species who are say more primitive, we will not contact them. They will be hostile, our science will be the better science and we will easily conceal ourselves.
We will wisely not give them that 'smoking gun,' of evidence. They are too dangerous.
Human problems such as poverty, war and climate change stymie us. They do so, because we do not act as humans, as a whole.. We act like a collection of tribes (read countries) who do not address our true problems. This is what intelligent lifeforms are observing as you read this. The evidence from credible witnesses is overwhelming. -
billslugg Talk is cheap. A million times nothing is still nothing. Bring in a piece of a UAP and we'll see.Reply