US Government as Represented by the Secretary of the Army

Garry L Schaefer

Jonathan Alfred Holmgren

Jerome B Johnson

An electronic detector configuration enables the accurate determination of pressure differences in scenarios in which conventional detectors and detector systems introduce inherent thermal inequalities at the interface with their immediate environs. A preferred embodiment of the present invention accurately measures snow water equivalent (SWE) while eliminating the need for fluid-filled pillows that contain environmentally hazardous fluids. By matching the thermal conductivity of)surrounding soil to a detector configuration having an inherently low specific heat, it minimizes effects of differences in thermal conductivity at the snow/soil interface that cause SWE pressure sensor measurement errors. Further, it minimizes thermal effects by keeping soil moisture under the configuration approximately the same as that of surrounding soil. The system is environmentally friendly, has a small footprint, and is inexpensive to implement in arrays coupled to communicators suitable for any number of monitoring and warning functions such as snow avalanche and landslide early warning.

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Clackamas, OR, United States of America

Garry L Schaefer