Limb scan observations of atomic oxygen OI (1356 ¿) emissions obtained with the D sensor ultraviolet spectrometer package flown on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F4 satellite are analyzed with a recently developed radiative transfer model using best current estimates for the excitation cross sections, branching ratios, and photoelectron fluxes. The topside scale height of the limb profile depends mainly on the exospheric temperature T∞ used in the model computations and the peak intensity of the emission profile depends on the atomic oxygen density. To a lesser extent, the altitude of the peak and the shape of the profile vary with both T∞ and oxygen density. It is shown that more than half of the emission orginates within 10 km of the tangent point altitude along a 700-km segment of the line of sight. Comparison of calculated and observed profiles shows good agreement and suggests that limb scan observations may define the altitude distribution for some thermospheric species better than empirical models alone.