Dear colleagues,
We have installed digital thermistor chains/temperature cables in
boreholes at several sites on the Greenland Ice Sheet, varying from 1.65
m to 22 m deep. At the surface each chain is connected to a logger via a
proprietary interface unit. During a maintenance visit this summer we
found that all of these interface units had stopped working.
All the failures occurred during storms, presumably with lots of blowing
snow. Analysis by the vendor shows that the same components have been
damaged on all the units. Our current 'hypothesis' is that the failures
were caused by build up of static due to the blowing snow, then
subsequent discharge of static through the interface units rather than
the system ground (i.e. the mast).
The damaged components can be replaced, but we are unclear about how to
prevent this from happening again in the future. If you have experience
of similar issues, or suggestions on how to better protect or ground
installations with thermistor chains, then we'd be delighted to hear
from you.
Best wishes,
Andrew
--
Dr. Andrew Tedstone
Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg
CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
+41 26 300 9014
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