GENERATION AND USE OF FROST INFORMATION IN ARGENTINA
María Elena Fernández-Long, Irene Barnatán, Claudia Dominici, Guillermo Murphy
Facultad de Agronomía, UBA. Av. San Martín 4453, CABA, Argentina.
Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, 25 de Mayo 658, CABA, Argentina.
Manuscript received on 6th January 2015, in final form on 6th November 2015
ABSTRACT
Climate information is an increasingly used tool to take decisions in agriculture and other areas. Diagnosis of the element, the knowledge of their average conditions and variability, and subsequent prognosis, with predefined risk levels, are different aspects of its use. The dates of occurrence of first and last frosts are really important to plan agricultural calendar, and there are different methodologies to obtain them that lead to different results. So, the objective of this paper, first of all, is show the definitions and methodology to determinate first and last frost dates applicable to Argentina. Then, calculate and describe the main agro-climatic variables frost
(average date of first and last frost, frosty period, frequency of days with frost, etc.) to two thermal thresholds: 0°C (meteorological frost) and 3°C (agrometeorological frost). Finally, create a reliable database, easy to access and interpret, to be used by different users.