We describe an investigation of the variation of neutral atomic hydrogen with latitude in the thermosphere during a solstice season near solar minimum. Neutral hydrogen concentrations were derived with the charge exchange method applied to in situ ion and neutral composition measurements in the F region. The primary basic data were acquired with the polar-orbiting AE-D satellite which provided excellent latitudinal coverage within small increments of local time around the December 1975 solstice. Hydrogen concentrations at low latitude are comparable to those found under similar conditions from observations with AE-E satellite but are slightly larger than concentrations given by the MSIS-83 atmospheric model. Results, normalized to 300 km, for a morning-daytime period confirm the general summer-to-winter density increase, the large latitudinal gradients in the summer hemisphere, and the winter enhancement of hydrogen observed in various AE-C nighttime measurements. The AE-D data, however, provide evidence for a small polar depression in hydrogen concentration at high winter latitudes similar to but of lesser latitudinal extent than that inferred from OGO 6 optical observations in the exosphere. This behavior of hydrogen in the winter polar region bears a resemblance to that found in AE-D composition measurements of helium during the same period and attributed to atmospheric dynamics following auroral heating. The observed density gradients in the summer hemisphere are in sharp contrast to the more constant horizontal daytime profiles reported from OGO 6 and previous AE-C measurements and might be indicative of a special importance of local time effects to the latitudinal variability of hydrogen during the summer season. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1988