The relationship between the electric response signal of a thermal sensor and the temperature change caused by pulsed thermal load on the working surface is established within the framework of a one-dimensional model of the anisotropic thermoelement. A signal from the gradient heat-flux sensor based on an anisotropic bismuth single crystal that occurs on a steel plate exposed in a pulsed supersonic flow is analyzed in terms of the model. The results of the heat flux calculation using the temperature sensor response are compared to the data of direct measurements.