The Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES) measured emission from the 792 cm-1 Q branch of CO2, from which temperature distributions in the stratosphere and low mesosphere were derived. Here we briefly review the measurement technique, concentrating on aspects that affect the temperature determination. Comparison of many pairs of retrievals at the same location (near 32 ¿N or 32 ¿S) measured on sequential orbits (time separation of 96 min) shows a precision ranging from approximately 0.8 K at 68 mbar to about 3.5 K at 0.2 mbar, which agrees with simulations incorporating random noise and short-period spacecraft motions. Comparisons of globally analyzed CLAES data with National Meteorological Center (NMC) and U.K. Meteorological Office (UKMO) analyses show general agreement, with CLAES tending to be cooler by about 2 K, except in the tropics and high-latitude winter conditions. This is supported by comparisons with individual radiosondes and several lidars that indicate that the agreements is within 2 K throughout the profile (except for a narrow layer around 3 mbar). An error analysis also indicates that systematic errors should be roughly 2 K, independent of altitude. The systematic differences at low latitudes appear to be due to tropical waves, which have vertical wavelengths too short to be seen by the TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) instruments. There are no correlative rocketsondes or lidars to help resolve the reasons for the high-latitude differences. Comparisons with other Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) data should shed additional light on this equation. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1996