GPS radio occultations captured by receivers onboard the CHAMP and SAC-C spacecraft were used to study the evolution of temperature profiles in the Arctic region north of 65 degrees. The measurements captured the evolution of the coldest point in the lowest stratosphere, the thermal structure of the lower stratosphere, and the evolution of the lapse rate tropopause. Also the high resolution of the observations enabled to identify conditions for the potential formation of polar stratospheric clouds at locations and times that were overseen by the NCEP analysis. Implications for the dynamics of the chemistry at the lower polar stratosphere may be significant. A comparison of 2001/2002 with historical data from GPS/MET for the winters of 1995-1997 is also illustrated.