The Airborne Raman Ozone, Temperature, and Aerosol Lidar (AROTEL) participatedin the recent SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE) by providingprofiles of aerosols, polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), ozone, and temperature with highvertical and horizontal resolution. Temperatures were derived from just above the aircraftto ca. 60 km geometric altitude with a reported vertical resolution of ca. 0.6 km. Thehorizontal footprint varied from 4 to 70 km. This paper explores the measurementuncertainties associated with the temperature retrievals and makes comparisons withindependent, coincident measurements of temperature. Measurement uncertainties rangefrom 0.1 to ca. 4 K depending on altitude and integration time. Comparisons betweenAROTEL and balloon sonde temperatures retrieved under clear sky conditions using bothRayleigh and Raman scattered data showed AROTEL ca. 1 K colder than sonde values.Comparisons between AROTEL and the Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) onNASAs ER-2 show AROTEL being from 2 to 3 K colder for altitudes ranging from 14 to18 km. Temperature comparisons between AROTEL and the UK Met Offices modelshowed differences of ca. 1 K below ca. 25 km and a very strong cold bias of ca. 12 K ataltitudes between 30 and 35 km.