Satellite observations are used to describe the variations of water vapor, temperature, and cirrus clouds near the tropical tropopause, the key region for entry of air to the stratosphere. These observations reveal the roles of stratospheric Kelvin waves and the tropospheric Madden-Julian oscillation in influencing water vapor, providing new clues about the nature of stratosphere-troposphere exchange, though the signals are muted by the instruments' coarse vertical resolution near the tropopause. The next generation of satellite instruments will be better suited for such studies owing to their higher vertical resolution.