Absolute intensities of the O2 (0--1) atmospheric band night airglow emission have been observed from near Longyearbyen on West Spitsbergen (78.4¿N latitude, 15¿E longitude, geographic) during a 2-month period around winter solstice (1982--1983). Intensities ranging from 110 R to 1590 R with a mean of 570 R¿60 R are observed. There is no clear maximum or minimum around solstice. A semidiurnal tide component giving rise to a 25--30% intensity variation of the O2 (0--1) atmospheric emission is present in the data. The maximum and minimum are found to occur at about 0400 and 1000 local time, respectively. No diurnal tide component larger than ¿3--4% is present in the data. The day-to-day and short time variations both show a quasiregular wave pattern which may be associated with gravity waves.