A direct validation of ozone profile retrievals from IR ground-based high resolution solar spectra has been performed. The spectra were recorded at 0.0035 to 0.01 cm-1 resolution on 11 days between February and October 1994 at the Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change station in Lauder, New Zealand (45.04¿S, 169.68¿E, 0.37 km altitude) and analyzed for the O3 profile with a line-by-line forward model and semiempirical application of the optimal estimation inversion technique of Rodgers. The line parameters on the 1992 HITRAN compilation were assumed in the analysis. Retrieved ozone columns in three atmospheric layers (0.37--12 km, 12--20 km, and 20--100 km) have been compared with correlative ozonesondes, microwave and Dobson spectrometer data from the same site. IR total and O3 columns above 20 km agree with Dobson and microwave measurements to better than 2%. For the layers 0.37--12 km and 12--20 km the differences between IR and integrated ozonesondes are -7¿5% and 2¿4%, respectively. Special exercises have been performed to show the applicability of the retrieval method to spectra with a resolution ~0.02 cm-1 and better. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1996