The Chemistry of Ozone in the Polar Stratosphere (CHEOPS 3) campaign has been conducted in Scandinavia in winter 1989--1990 for investigating the composition of the lower Arctic stratosphere during winter, that is, when the temperatures are the lowest and when polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are most likely to occur. Actually, on February 6, temperatures as low as 180 K at 22 km have been measured above Kiruna, while at the same time, reduced ozone amounts have been reported in some stations in Europe. Global observations from the satellites of the TIROS N series during the period from February 4 to 6, 1990, have been analyzed using the improved initialization inversion (3I) algorithm. The use of both the infrared (HIRS2) and the microwave (MSU) radiometric observations allows for the determination of the temperature profile up to about 10 hPa (about 30 km) along with other atmospheric parameters (air mass type, cloud occurrence, etc.). The impact of the stratospheric cooling on measured radiances, colocations between 3I retrieved temperature profiles and radiosonde reports, as well as comparisons with analyzed temperatures in the low stratosphere provided by the Stratospheric Research Group of the Free University of Berlin are presented. The stratospheric cooling is resolved by the TOVS but with a lower amplitude than measured by the radiosondes. Retrieved mean layer temperatures and air mass type give evidence of upper tropospheric forcing partly responsible for the ozone loss. ¿American Geophysical Union 1993