| Term: | Radioactive snow gauge |
| Definition: | A device that automatically and continuously records the water equivalent of snow on a given surface as a function of time. A small sample of a radioactive salt is placed in the ground in a lead-shielded collimator that directs a beam of radioactive particles vertically upward. A Geiger-M ller counting system (located above the snow level) measures the amount of depletion of radiation caused by the presence of the snow. |