Abstract The Polar Radiant Energy in the Far InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) mission will measure the Earth’s emission at wavelengths ranging from 3-54 µm. The pre-launch clear-sky retrieval algorithm, evaluated with simulated test data, indicates that PREFIRE measurements will be valuable for retrieving atmospheric water vapor and temperature profiles. Far infrared measurements provide unique retrieval information, indicated by the high ranking of select FIR channels as primary contributors to the total degrees of freedom for signal (DFS). In utilizing all the PREFIRE channels, the average total DFS of 4 test regions ranges from 1.90 - 4.71. The information content increases with higher column water vapor and in the presence of near surface temperature inversions. Using the DFS profiles for guidance, the retrieval concentrates information into 7 distinct layers to reduce the retrieval uncertainty per layer. Sensitivity tests indicate forward model error due to surface emissivity uncertainty results in about a 9% increase in column water vapor uncertainty. The clear-sky retrieval is sensitive to the presence of undetected ice clouds, especially those with optical depths larger than 0.2. Hence, in addition to a separate PREFIRE cloud mask, optimal estimation retrieval metrics are explored as possible indicators of cloudy scenes.