Atmospheric temperature fields derived from inversions of Nimbus 5 radiance data are compared with radiosonde data from 15 antarctic stations during the period 1 July--6 September 1973. Unexpectly large systematic differences are found in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over eastern Antarctica. The satellite-derived temperatures are typically 3--4 K too warm at 200 mb. Because many atmospheric model calculations depend critically on the accuracy of the temperature fields used as input data, and especially on horizontal temperature variations, these results are of importance and will be of interest to those researchers involved in temperature retrievals from satellite radiance data and to those who may wish to utilize Nimbus-5 temperature fields for model calculations in high southern latitudes.