Sensors

Data Collection at the two Puget Sound sites is currently suspended

Sensors

*Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Precipitation Gauges

Each site is equipped with two 8-inch-diameter tipping-bucket rain gauges that are calibrated to 0.01 inch of rainfall per tip.  The field data loggers record and transmit hourly precipitation. During times of high precipitation, the dataloggers record and transmit precipitation and other data on 15-minute intervals.

Water Content Reflectometers

The Everett site is equipped with three water-content reflectometers (Campbell Scientific Model CS615*) that are buried at different depths. Volumetric water content is reported as percent of total soil volume.

Water Content Profilers

Since late September 2003, the Edmonds site has been equiped with two Sentek EnviroSMART™* water content profilers that have sensors at eight different depths, ranging from 20 cm to 200 cm. These sensors measure volumetric soil-water content, which also is reported as percent of total soil volume.

Tensiometers

Since late September 2003, the Edmonds site has been equiped with two arrays or nests of tensiometers, with six tensiometers per array. The tensiometers (Soil Moisture Corp. Model #2100F)* are equiped with current transducers that can measure both positive and negative (suction) pore pressures and are installed at depths ranging from 20 to 150 cm.

Soil Temperature Sensor

A thermister is buried a few centimeters below the ground surface at each site to measure soil temperature. Soil temperature measurements are used in correcting measurements by other sensors and in detecting when the ground is frozen.

Sensor Locations