A simple, classical, and expedient method for the retrieval of atmospheric pressure-temperature profiles has been applied to the high-resolution infrared solar absorption spectra obtained with the atomspheric trace molecule spectroscopy (ATMOS) instrument. The basis for this method is a rotational analysis of retrieved apparent abundances from CO2 rovibrational absorption lines, employing existing constituent concentration retrieval software used in the analysis of data returned by ATMOS. Pressure-temperature profiles derived from spectra acquired during the ATLAS 1 space shuttle mission of March--April 1992 are quantitatively evaluated and compared with climatological and meteorological data as a means of assessing the validity of this approach. ¿American Geophysical Union 1995