The compatibility of radiosonde (RAOB) and satellite temperature and wind data in the lower-middle stratosphere is evaluated via comparison of daily measurements from the Berlin (Tempelhof) RAOB station and colocated synoptically mapped temperature retrievals and geostrophic winds obtained from the Nimbus 7 Limb Infrared Monitor of Stratosphere (LIMS) experiment for November 1978 to May 1979. Both on a slowly varying (seasonal) time scale and during large-amplitude sudden warming episodes, RAOB and LIMS are found to agree quite closely in terms of the local tendency of temperature and horizontal wind speed and direction. The overall similarity between RAOB winds and the LIMS-derived geostrophic values suggests that the horizontal wind flow in the lower-middle stratosphere over Berlin is essentially in thermal wind balance. This finding implies that ageostrophic wind motions in this region are rather small in magnitude, approaching the estimated level of uncertainty in the measurement/derivation of RAOB and LIMS winds. Low-frequency fluctuations are found to dominate the RAOB and LIMS time series. Nevertheless, on occasion, high-frequency structure in altitude and time appears in the RAOB data. These small-scale features, which generally possess small amplitudes, are either attenuated or virtually absent from the LIMS time series, consistent with the comparative sampling properties of the two observing systems. The results demonstrate that the LIMS-mapped temperature and wind analyses represent a valuable resource for investigating large-scale dynamics and transport. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1988