Within Explanations
The Aguadilla, Puerto Rico UAP case became one of the most frequently cited pieces of infrared UFO footage because it appeared to show an object performing several extraordinary feats at once: flying low over land, entering the ocean without slowing down, emerging again, and finally splitting into two separate objects.
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Introduction
Within debates surrounding the UFO disclosure movement, the Aguadilla video has become a useful case study because both sceptical and pro-UAP researchers generally agree on one point: the footage is genuine. The disagreement centres on what the infrared sensor was actually showing. [Zenodo]zenodo.org2013 Aguadilla Puerto Rico UAP: The detailed analysis of…August 6, 2015 — 6 Aug 2015 — This report is a detailed analysis of a H…
The Infrared Trick Behind a Famous UAP
Infrared cameras do not record visible light. Instead, they detect differences in thermal radiation. An object becomes easy to track when its temperature contrasts strongly with the background. When that contrast weakens, the object can appear to fade, fragment, or disappear even though it remains in view physically. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
The Aguadilla footage was recorded by a Wescam MX-15D infrared system operating in the mid-wave infrared range. Unlike a normal video camera, this sensor depended on thermal contrast rather than colour, shape, or reflected sunlight. [Zenodo]zenodo.org2013 Aguadilla Puerto Rico UAP: The detailed analysis of…August 6, 2015 — 6 Aug 2015 — This report is a detailed analysis of a H…
AARO’s reconstruction argues that the objects moved into conditions where their thermal signature became increasingly similar to the surrounding environment. When that happens, the sensor loses the ability to distinguish target from background. The result can look dramatic on screen: an object appears to dissolve, blink out, or merge with the horizon. Yet the sensor is losing contrast rather than observing an extraordinary manoeuvre. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
This matters because viewers naturally interpret disappearance as movement. If an object vanishes near water, many observers assume it entered the water. If it vanishes and later becomes visible again, they may infer a re-emergence. Infrared systems can create that impression without any actual change in the object’s path. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
Why thermal crossover occurs
Thermal crossover is a well-known infrared imaging limitation. It commonly occurs around sunrise and sunset when temperatures of different surfaces and objects converge. During these periods, thermal contrast drops sharply and infrared detection becomes less reliable. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
According to AARO, the Aguadilla event occurred within the period after sunset when thermal crossover effects can remain significant. The office noted that the recording was made at approximately 9:22 p.m. local time, still within the timeframe during which reduced thermal contrast can affect infrared imagery. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
The case therefore presents a classic situation in which an infrared sensor may preserve the visual drama of a sighting while obscuring the environmental conditions needed to interpret it correctly.
Why infrared cameras mislead viewers
The most persuasive aspect of the Aguadilla footage is that it seems straightforward. Viewers watch a moving target and assume the image corresponds directly to the object’s physical appearance and motion. Infrared imagery often encourages that assumption because it looks precise and technological.
In reality, infrared footage contains several layers of interpretation problems:
- Contrast dependence: visibility depends on temperature differences rather than shape.
- Range effects: small targets lose detail as distance increases.
- Atmospheric interference: humidity, clouds, and haze affect infrared transmission.
- Sensor processing: tracking software and image enhancement can exaggerate apparent edges or changes in brightness. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
AARO’s assessment emphasised that the observing aircraft increased its distance from the targets during the encounter. As range increased, image fidelity decreased. The office also cited scattered cloud cover as a factor capable of intermittently reducing thermal contrast and making the objects appear to flicker or disappear. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
These limitations are easy to forget when watching a compressed video clip. A viewer sees only the final image, not the thermal environment that produced it.
The apparent transmedium claim
The most controversial claim associated with Aguadilla was that the object demonstrated transmedium behaviour—moving seamlessly between air and water.
The Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU), whose detailed analysis helped make the case famous, argued that the object appeared to enter the ocean, emerge again, and later split into two objects before re-entering the water. In that interpretation, the water interaction was one of the strongest indicators that the object was anomalous. [Zenodo]zenodo.org2013 Aguadilla Puerto Rico UAP: The detailed analysis of…August 6, 2015 — 6 Aug 2015 — This report is a detailed analysis of a H…
AARO reached a different conclusion after conducting a reconstruction using Systems Tool Kit (STK) modelling and trajectory analysis. The office concluded that the objects never entered the water at all. Instead, they travelled in a straight path consistent with local wind conditions, while thermal crossover and other sensor limitations caused them to become indistinguishable from the ocean background. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
Under this interpretation, the apparent transition into the sea is not a demonstration of exotic capability. It is a sensor effect created when the thermal signature fades against a thermally similar background. The key point is that disappearance and water entry look remarkably similar in infrared footage when contrast is lost. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
The same reconstruction also challenges the notion that a single object split into two. AARO argues that two objects were present throughout much of the event and were only intermittently resolved as separate targets due to viewing geometry and sensor limitations. What looked like a dramatic bifurcation may therefore have been a change in visibility rather than a physical division of one object into two. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
What reconstruction can and cannot prove
The Aguadilla case remains important because it demonstrates both the strengths and limits of reconstruction-based explanations.
What reconstruction can do is test whether extraordinary interpretations are necessary. By modelling aircraft position, sensor angle, weather conditions, wind direction, and target motion, analysts can determine whether ordinary objects could produce the observed imagery. AARO’s reconstruction found that the observed motion was compatible with small airborne objects drifting with the wind and that no anomalous acceleration or transmedium behaviour was required. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
What reconstruction cannot do is provide perfect certainty about the identity of the objects. AARO assessed with moderate confidence that the targets were likely sky lanterns, while expressing high confidence that they did not display anomalous performance. Those are different claims. The first concerns identification; the second concerns behaviour. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
This distinction is often lost in public debate. The strongest evidential contribution of the thermal crossover explanation is not that it proves exactly what the objects were. Rather, it demonstrates that the most extraordinary features of the video—the apparent water entry, disappearance, and splitting—can arise from known infrared imaging limitations. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
For discussions of UFO disclosure, that lesson is significant. The Aguadilla footage remains visually impressive, but its enduring value may be as a reminder that advanced sensors do not eliminate ambiguity. In some circumstances, they simply replace familiar visual illusions with thermal ones. [AARO]aaro.milPuerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionAARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th…
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Endnotes
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Source: aaro.mil
Title: Puerto Rico UAP Case Resolution
Link: https://www.aaro.mil/Portals/136/PDFs/case_resolution_reports/AARO_Puerto_Rico_UAP_Case_Resolution.pdfSource snippet
AARO Puerto Rico UAP Case ResolutionMarch 19, 2025 — 20 Mar 2025 — Puerto Rico captured thermal video footage not enter the water. Th...
Published: March 19, 2025
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Source: zenodo.org
Link: https://zenodo.org/records/7844175Source snippet
2013 Aguadilla Puerto Rico UAP: The detailed analysis of...August 6, 2015 — 6 Aug 2015 — This report is a detailed analysis of a H...
Published: August 6, 2015
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Source: academia.edu
Title: 2013 Aguadilla Puerto Rico
Link: https://www.academia.edu/40212895/2013_Aguadilla_Puerto_RicoSource snippet
Report on a case in Aguadilla Puerto Rico from 2013 of a leaked Homeland Security thermal imaging video showing an object that a Customs...
Additional References
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Source: europeafrica.army.mil
Link: https://www.europeafrica.army.mil/VideoPlayer/?videoid=955936Source snippet
U.S. Army Europe & AfricaVideo PlayerThis video shows a Systems Toolkit digital reconstruction of "The Puerto Rico Object" unidentified a...
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD9r-eZmYWISource snippet
SPLITTING ORB UFO ABOVE PUERTO RICO | The Proof is...SPLITTING ORB UFO ABOVE PUERTO RICO | The Proof is Out... Whistleblower reveals UA...
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Source: instagram.com
Title: I explored Puerto Rico’s UFO scene and we saw an alien!
Link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT0SdPGjYJP/Source snippet
The Aguadilla UFO footage, recorded near Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on April 25, 2013, was captured by a thermal...
Published: April 25, 2013
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Source: uapedia.ai
Title: the aguadilla airport incident puerto rico 2013
Link: https://www.uapedia.ai/wiki/the-aguadilla-airport-incident-puerto-rico-2013/Source snippet
Unlocking New RealitiesThe Aguadilla Airport Incident, Puerto Rico (2013)Explore the 2013 Aguadilla UAP incident: a CBP infrare...
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Source: reddit.com
Title: the 2013 aguadilla ufo incident portrayed as
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/ufo/comments/1pbjynd/the_2013_aguadilla_ufo_incident_portrayed_as/Source snippet
The 2013 Aguadilla UFO incident portrayed as authentic in...The “entering/exiting water” and fading are attributed to thermal cros...
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Source: altpropulsion.com
Link: https://www.altpropulsion.com/the-aguadilla-uap-video-a-case-study-in-gravitational-lensing/Source snippet
emission and background through a moving index/curvature bubble...
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSArCxSar6QSource snippet
The UFO 'cookbook': How the American government investigates the unexplainable...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: UFO FILES: FOIA VIDEO RELEASE of the ‘Aguadilla UAP’ in Puerto Rico
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuSZDrBDgb8Source snippet
Darcy Weir on why AARO might be trying to debunk Puerto Rico's Aguadilla object | Reality Check...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: The UFO ‘cookbook’: How the American government investigates the unexplainable
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NrAQbco7dQ
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