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Slope and embankment stability

As a geotechnical engineer, you don’t just protect infrastructure, you protect lives. Whether it’s a dam, a road, a mine, or a critical hillside, slope stability is your responsibility. How much more defensible would your risk models and mitigation strategies be if they were backed by real-time soil moisture and pore pressure data, captured continuously, in the zones that matter most? When things shift underground, you need the kind of data that lets you act before it’s too late.

You can’t act early if you don’t know what’s happening underground

Most slope failures don’t start on the surface. The warning signs live in the unsaturated zone, where water potential shifts long before visible movement begins. Without the right instrumentation, you risk:

Missing early stress signals beneath the surface

Data gaps that limit model accuracy and forecasting

Delayed mitigation responses that cost time, lives, and money

Monitoring unstable slopes isn’t about guesswork. It’s about precision under pressure. You need systems that hold up to harsh conditions, deliver consistent data, and let you see what’s happening before failure shows up on the surface.

METER brings scientific credibility and practical field durability to slope and embankment monitoring. Our systems are designed to deliver high-resolution data from the subsurface, where real risk begins:

TEROS 21 and TEROS 12 sensors measure soil suction, water content, and temperature with minimal drift over time.

Sensors are built for multi-year field deployment in high-moisture, high-pressure environments.

ATMOS 41 all-in-one weather stations track hyperlocal rainfall, wind, solar radiation, and barometric pressure, providing critical surface-level context that complements subsurface data and supports slope stability modeling.

ZL6 data loggers and ZENTRA Cloud provide secure, real-time data access with site-wide visualization and alerting capabilities.

Simple, fast system deployment

From permitting to planning, you’ve already got enough complexity to manage. We’ve made it simple to deploy and scale monitoring that gives you confidence in your analysis and decisions:

Install TEROS sensors at depth across known risk zones.

Connect to ZL6 and ZENTRA Cloud for 24/7 access, alerts, and remote configuration.

Use real-time suction and moisture data to validate models, monitor thresholds, and trigger action before surface instability begins.

Data that earns trust.

Systems that help you act early.

The cost of inaction is steep. Without the right data in the right places, you’re left relying on surface indicators that come too late. A missed signal underground can trigger a cascade of real-world consequences:

Evacuation failures or delayed emergency response

Damaged infrastructure and lost capital

Litigation, liability, and reputational harm

When your slope monitoring works seamlessly, your team gains the clarity to lead instead of react. With METER, you gain visibility where it matters most: before cracks appear. Our systems help you:

Monitor slope conditions in near-real time, anywhere in the world

Set alert thresholds that enable proactive mitigation

Improve modeling accuracy with long-term data continuity

Deliver confidence to your stakeholders, clients, and community

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“What we’re doing with our monitoring stations is not super complicated. It involves a plan of what you want to get out of it. The same method could be applied anywhere, really.”

– Stephen Hughes, PhD, Professor of Geology | University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez

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Slope & embankment stability solutions

When stability is critical, real-time data makes the difference. Get early warnings from the unsaturated zone before slope failure puts lives, infrastructure, and budgets at risk. Explore METER slope stability solutions.

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Unsaturated zone monitoring
Saturated zone monitoring
Weather monitoring
Groundwater level

Unsaturated zone monitoring

When slopes move unexpectedly, the consequences are measured in lives, liability, and long-term damage. That’s why real insight starts with continuous, on-site monitoring of the unsaturated zone—not distant estimates or delayed alerts. METER delivers research-grade data on local precipitation, soil moisture retention, soil temperature, and air temperature, so you can detect instability early, reduce uncertainty, and make informed decisions with confidence—right where the risk lives.

Volumetric water content (VWC)

Soil suction/water potential

Z See how ZENTRA Cloud can simplify data management

Saturated zone monitoring

Elevated saturation levels increase pore water pressure, reduce soil cohesion, and raise the risk of slope failure. For engineers, waiting to react isn't an option—not when lives, infrastructure, and liability are on the line. METER’s monitoring systems deliver continuous, research-grade measurements of the saturated zone, giving you real-time insight into changing site conditions. With accurate data on precipitation, infiltration, and subsurface water movement, you can take proactive steps to preserve slope stability and prevent disaster—before it begins.

Water conductivity and depth

HYDROS 21 Z

Soil suction/water potential and temperature

TEROS 32 Z

Z See how ZENTRA Cloud can simplify data management

Weather monitoring

Temperature swings, wind, and humidity drive erosion, saturation, and instability—and when conditions change fast, you need local data you can trust. METER’s weather monitoring solutions provide continuous, site-specific measurements of atmospheric conditions—including temperature, humidity, wind speed, and rainfall—paired with soil moisture insights to help you detect erosion risk and predict slope failure before it happens. Protect lives and infrastructure with the foresight that only real-time, research-grade data can deliver.

Weather monitoring

ATMOS 41W Z
ATMOS 41 Gen 2 Z

Z See how ZENTRA Cloud can simplify data management

Groundwater level

When groundwater rises, so does the risk. Elevated groundwater levels increase pore water pressure, reduce soil strength, and can trigger slope and embankment failure. For engineers, real-time visibility into subsurface conditions is critical to preventing disaster. METER’s systems deliver continuous, research-grade groundwater level measurements, giving you the data you need to monitor pressure buildup, assess changing site stability, and take timely action to protect infrastructure and lives.

Water conductivity and depth

HYDROS 21 Z

Z See how ZENTRA Cloud can simplify data management

ZL6 Data Logger next to a tablet and several screenshots. the tablet and screenshots show data visualizations from ZENTRA Cloud software

ZENTRA System

Customize your data collection and logging solution by combining multiple METER sensors with the ZL6 Data Logger and ZENTRA Cloud. ZENTRA stores your data in the cloud, allowing easy access to your data and near-real-time reports from all of your data loggers.

Avoid costly field visits by accessing your data from any web-connected device. Analyze it with ZENTRA Cloud’s built-in visualization tools, and easily share insights without tracking down log files on individual computers.

Learn more about ZENTRA

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