> You're comparing apples to oranges though. The 54.0 reading in Death Valley was measuring the temperature of the air - in particular, 1.5 meters above the ground. Satellites measure ground temperature - as in, temperature at the ground. Lots of things can affect ground temperature.
Exactly. I have a radio thermometer in my attic whose readings max out at 140°F. During the summer it's regularly maxed out, so the actual air temp is hotter still (and the actual surface temp of the roof must be even hotter than that). Outside air temp is nowhere near any of those temps.