Temperature profilers measure height-resolved atmospheric temperature in a vertical column. There are active and passive systems available on the market. All systems offered by Scintec are active. Active systems have a higher accuracy and can measure with finer vertical resolution. Even sharp inversions can be correctly quantified and located.

Scintec temperature profilers use the radio-acoustic method, usually denoted as RASS. A transmitter emits sound waves vertically, followed by faster radio waves. The radio waves are reflected at the sound waves and the backscattered radio waves are detected by a radio receiver at the transmitter's location. The Doppler frequency shift of the radio waves corresponds to the speed of sound which itself depends on atmospheric temperature. With this active method, wave travel time can be determined and exactly relates to the measurement height. The wavelengths used are much longer than the size of cloud droplets and precipitation particles. Therefore, the method works in all weather including fog, clouds, rain and snow.

In combination with wind profilers, the RASS temperature profilers form virtual meteorological towers with wind and temperature sensors at exactly matching positions and both operating in all weather. There are two classes of RASS temperature profilers, one of them for combination with Sodar wind profilers and the other one for combination with Radar wind profilers.