This paper concerns the assessment of the surface temperature of copper electrodes submitted to an electric arc in a non stationary regime in air. An infrared camera is used to measure the decrease of the temperature surface just after a controlled and very fast arc extinction. In the first part, the experimental method is described. In the second part, results are presented for 60-70 A with an electric arc duration in the range 3-4 ms. The temperature decrease after the arc extinction allows to reach an assessment of the surface temperature just at the arc switching off. In the present experimental conditions the mean temperatures reached for copper cathodes and anodes are in the range 750-850°C.