The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) has
launched a research initiative in 2013/2014 called ROMIC (Role of the Middle Atmosphere in Climate). The aim of ROMIC is to improve our understanding of long term variations in the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere and to investigate their potential role for climate changes in the troposphere. This includes to study coupling mechanisms between various layers and the relative importance of anthropogenic and natural forcing, e.\ g., by the Sun. Scientists at a total of 15 research institutes in Germany are involved and cover a large range of experimental and theoretical topics relevant for ROMIC. Some scientific highlights from the research projects within ROMIC will be presented.The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) has launched a research initiative in 2013/2014 called ROMIC (Role of the Middle Atmosphere in Climate). The aim of ROMIC is to improve our understanding of long term variations in the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere and to investigate their potential role for climate changes in the troposphere. This includes to study coupling mechanisms between various layers and the relative importance of anthropogenic and natural forcing, e.\ g., by the Sun. Scientists at a total of 15 research institutes in Germany are involved and cover a large range of experimental and theoretical topics relevant for ROMIC. Some scientific highlights from the research projects within ROMIC will be presented.