Laboratory experiments have been conducted in which a spherical solid obstacle has been towed steadily through a thermally stratified rotating fluid in order to determine the effects of the density‐profile shape upon the attenuation with height of the disturbance produced by the obstacle. The existence of a cutoff level in the fluid beyond which the disturbance is not detected is illustrated, and the dependence of this level upon local variations in density profile is studied. Measurements of velocity above and behind the obstacle are reported.