Planetary wave signatures, with periods of approximately 16, 10 and 5 days have been observed at altitudes ranging from 30 km to 220 km over Halley (76 ¿S, 26 ¿W), Antarctica. A comparative analysis of these signatures in the stratosphere, mesosphere and ionosphere has been conducted on a continuous 130-day data sequence in the austral winter of 1997. This analysis utilises stratospheric European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) operational analyses, mesospheric Imaging Doppler Interferometer (IDI) data and ionospheric sounding data. The development and decay of these planetary waves were characterized as a function of altitude by selecting period ranges corresponding to each of the 16-day, 10-day and 5-day normal mode oscillations from a wavelet analysis. The observations suggest ducting of the quasi 16-day planetary wave from stratospheric mid-latitudes to mesospheric high-latitudes and a strong link between planetary waves in the mesosphere and F2-region. ¿ 2001 American Geophysical Union