In this paper we deal with the problem of retrieving temperature and moisture profiles in the Antarctic regions using radiance observations from the TIROS operational vertical sounder (TOVS). The high-resolution infrared sounder (HIRS) data are calibrated with the internal cold and warm blackbodies in order to alleviate apparent calibration discrepancies resulting from using the space as a cold reference. Significant improvements of the simultaneous retrieval results have been achieved in using a climatological first guess and selected channels of HIRS as a result of this change in calibration procedure. The retrieval results of the orbit at December 21, 1987 (2345 UT) are compared with radiosonde data and analyses of the European Center of Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) of December 22, 1987 (0000 UT). ¿ American Geophysical Union 1990