Abstract-We have investigated the relationship between the oxygen nightglow and the atomic oxygen density in the lower thermosphere. This was done using data from two sounding rocket experiments conducted over White Sands Missile Range (32"N, 106"W). The first flight was launched on 2 November 1978 while the second was launched on 7 December 1981. Both flights contained resonance lamps to measure the atomic oxygen density. The peak density in both cases was near 1.9 x 10" cme3. In addition, the 1978 flight contained a photometer to measure the 5577 A green line while the 1981 flight contained photometers to measure the green line, the U.V. nightglow, and the 7620 8, (0,O) atmospheric band. We have used empirical models of these airglow features to compare with the 0 density measurements. In the case of the atmospheric band, excellent agreement is seen concerning the shape of the atomic oxygen profile, while some discrepancies were seen with the Her&erg band and the green line. In all cases, the absolute value of our peak 0 density appeared to be about 2.5 times lower, for a given airglow intensity, than previous measurements.