For the determination of surface normal temperature gradients, a generic system was built up consisting of two opposed, vertical nozzles impinging onto a flat, horizontal copper plate. From below, the plate was heated by non-reacting, turbulent air jets (Re = 5,000) and by a laminar flame (? = 0.7, Re = 350), respectively. For well-defined boundary conditions, the plate was cooled by a turbulent cold jet from above in both cases. Wall temperature as well as gas temperature distributions within and outside of the thermal boundary layer of the hot side of the system were determined. The radial surface temperature profile of the plate was measured by coating it with thermographic phosphors (TP), materials whose phosphorescence decay time is dependent on their temperature. The TP was excited electronically by a frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser (355 nm). The temporal decay of the phosphorescence intensity was measured pointwise by a photomultiplier tube. In this case, the 659 nm emission line of Mg4FGeO6:Mn was monitored. Non-intrusive point measurements of the gas temperature close to the surface were performed by rovibrational coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) of diatomic nitrogen. Beams from a seeded, frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser (532 nm) and from a modeless broadband dye laser (607 nm) were phase-matched into a surface-parallel, planar-boxcars configuration. The temperature data could be collected as close as 300 ?m to the surface. Thermographic phosphors as well as CARS proved to be consistent for wall temperature and boundary layer measurements in all test cases. The results and challenges of this approach are discussed.