Summary
The Network for the Detection of Mesopause Change (NDMC) is a global program with the mission to promote international cooperation among research groups investigating the mesopause region (80-100km) with the goal of early identification of changing climate signals. From September 01 to October 31, 2009, the first global NDMC measurement campaign has been conducted. The main objective of this campaign was to investigate hemispheric asymmetries and planetary wave activities in the mesopause region deriving the intensity and temperature from the OH and O2 emissions in the airglow layer using optical instruments such as spectrometers and photometers. Mesopause temperatures obtained from satellite observations with the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on board the TIMED satellite and from satellite observations with the SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for the Atmospheric CHartograpY (SCIAMACHY) instrument on board the ENVISAT satellite are compared to the rotational temperatures derived by measurements of ground-based airglow spectrometers obtained during the NDMC campaign. This campaign dataset provides a good opportunity for the comparison of rotational temperatures obtained with a larger group of ground based airglow instruments at different locations with satellite based measurements.