In one embodiment, an irrigated ablation system includes a probe tobe inserted into a chamber of a heart, the probe including an electrode, atemperaturesensor to provide a temperature signal indicative of a temperature of amyocardium,and an irrigation channel through which to irrigate the myocardium, a pump topumpan irrigation fluid into the irrigation channel, an RF signal generator togenerate RFpower to be applied by the electrode to ablate the myocardium, and acontroller toreceive the temperature signal, calculate a rate of change of the temperatureovertime based on the temperature signal, calculate an irrigation rate with whichtoirrigate the myocardium via the irrigation channel based at least on thecalculatedrate of change of the temperature, and provide an irrigation signal to thepump toirrigate the myocardium with the irrigation fluid at the calculated irrigationrate.
