Comprehensive Assessment of AIRS, TSHS, and VASS Temperature Profile Products in the Arctic Land Region

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the Aqua satellite, along with the MWTS/MWHS Synergy (TSHS) sounding system and Atmospheric Vertical Sounder System (VASS) on the Fengyun-3D (FY-3D) satellite, provide high-quality data for studying Arctic temperature change. The generalized cold bias of AIRS is confirmed through horizontal comparisons with Arctic land radiosonde stations. VASS corrects the warm bias of TSHS by incorporating the Hyperspectral Infrared Atmospheric Sounder-I (HIRAS-I). Vertical comparisons demonstrate that AIRS, TSHS, and VASS offer excellent temperature detection from the top of the boundary layer to the lower stratosphere (800–100 hPa). However, the overestimation and errors of stratospheric temperatures by TSHS and VASS increase with altitude (pressures below 60 hPa). Specifically, the warm bias trends at 0.06 K hPa⁻¹, reaching 2.87 K and 2.92 K at 10 hPa. Similarly, RMSE values trend at 0.05 K hPa⁻¹, reaching 3.62 K and 3.69 K at 10 hPa. The low correlation (R ≥ 0.65) of TSHS near 250 hPa in summer is significantly improved in VASS (R ≥ 0.78) after adding HIRAS-I. The high vertical resolution due to infrared hyperspectral resolution facilitates the detection of complex temperature junctions. The retrieval error of AIRS in the boundary layer increases with cloudiness, while VASS combines microwave and infrared channel data to reduce the impact of cloud cover. Assessing the Arctic applicability of these three satellite temperature profile products will facilitate their widespread use in the Arctic region, enhance accurate climate change monitoring, and further reveal the mechanisms of Arctic warming.