This system used data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) to derive and display surface temperature distributions throughout peninsular Florida on cold nights. These distributions, in conjunction with ground meteorological data, provide inputs to mathematical models which predict temperature distributions up to 10 hours in advance. This system is being developed by scientists at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) in cooperation with and sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Kennedy Space Center (KSC) supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service (NWS). The system has been installed in the NWS facility at Ruskin, Florida, and has been operated in an experimental mode by NWS forecasters for the past three winters. The primary purpose of the system is to provide a tool for use by NWS weather forecasters to permit more timely more complete and more accurate temperature data for use by agricultural interests on nights when their crops are threatened by a cold wave. This better information can result in more timely decisions in the use of frost protection techniques thus deriving substantial benefits in terms of cost savings and crops protected and salvaged
