The current Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Sounder, with 18 infrared (IR) spectral broad bands ranging from approximately 3.7 – 14.7 µm, provides atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles and derived products over the continental United States (CONUS) on an hourly basis. One important application of the current GOES Sounder products is in severe weather forecasting; for example, monitoring of temperature and moisture changes in the pre-convective environment. In addition, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) hyperspectral IR sounders such as the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) and IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) onboard polar-orbiting satellites provide global temperature and moisture soundings with high vertical resolution and accuracy. Comparisons of vertical resolution and accuracy between GOES and AIRS sounding products are performed to demonstrate applications of the current GOES Sounder and polar-orbiting hyperspectral IR sounder data, and to highlight the need for a hyperspectral IR sounder from geostationary orbit.