In this paper, we investigate the possibility of using satellite airglow limb tomography to study spatial structures in the airglow emissions of the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere. We describe inversion procedures for converting satellite airglow limb observations into two-dimensional distributions of volume emission rates. The performance of the inversion procedures is assessed using simulated limb observations and we demonstrate the potential of this tomographic technique for studying the horizontal and vertical characteristics of wave-driven disturbances in the 80–100 km region.