After deploying our latest sensor version to a small local river, we were able to collect some usable stage data during a pretty big rainstorm.

Within about an hour of the rainstorm starting, the stage began to climb at a pretty staggering rate. During its rise, we were concerned that our sensor would become submerged at some point, but the water level eventually peaked about 25 cm from the bottom of our sensor. Needless to say, we would mount the sensor a bit higher next time around.

We noticed that while our sensor data was very consistent before the rain, it became erratic on its way down. After inspecting the sensor, this again turned out to be debris buildup on the sensing pole. We have begun looking into ways to mitigate this buildup or prevent it from affecting our readings.

Unfortunately, our temperature and conductivity sensors are not behaving normally, so their sensor data is unusable. This is likely a flaky connection inside the sensor somewhere.