The intensity distribution of the OH Meinel bands in the airglow has been derived from the minor constituent profiles of Moreels et al. (1977). It has been shown that there is good agreement between the observed and calculated intensity distribution for excitation through the hydrogen-ozone reaction and quenching of the excited state by reaction with atomic oxygen and through vibrational relaxation. The rate constants for vibrational relaxation have been derived and are found to be vibrational level dependent; for the ν = 7 level, the peak value, the rate constant is 5.8 × 10 −12cm 3s −1.