An anomalous radar artifact with high reflectivity and no velocity is most likely indicative of what?

The presence of an anomalous radar artifact characterized by high reflectivity but lacking any corresponding velocity is most indicative of ground clutter. Ground clutter arises from reflections off objects on the ground, such as buildings, trees, or other terrain features, rather than precipitation.

In radar meteorology, precipitation typically produces both reflectivity and velocity signatures due to the movement of rain or other hydrometeors. When a radar detects high reflectivity without a matching velocity signature, this suggests that the signals are being reflected from stationary or slow-moving objects, which is common in ground clutter scenarios.

Additionally, phenomena like thunderstorms or precipitation would generally be associated with both reflectivity and velocity, as moving precipitation exhibits doppler effects. Similarly, data transmission errors could produce artifacts, but they often show erratic patterns rather than consistent high reflectivity with no velocity detected. Thus, the characteristics of the observed radar artifact strongly point to ground clutter being the source of the high reflectivity reading.