In order to investigate the global distributions of temporal variations of OH and O 2 nightglow emissions, we statistically analyzed their variations with altitude, local time, and season, using the OH and O 2 airglow emission rate data observed by the TIMED satellite between 2002 and 2009. The results indicated that the OH nightglow emission was stronger than dayglow emission and the O 2 nightglow emission was weaker than dayglow emission. In the tropics, the OH nightglow intensity reached its maximum near midnight; at higher latitudes, the OH nightglow intensities after sunset and before sunrise were much strong. At the equinoxes, the O 2 nightglow intensity in the tropics decreased with local time; at the solstices, the local time-latitude distribution of the O 2 nightglow intensity had a valley (with weak emission). As for the altitude-latitude distributions of nightglow emission rates, the distribution for OH nightglow at the equinoxes had one peak (with strong emission) at the equator, with a peak height around 85 km; the peak for the March equinox was stronger than that for the September equinox. The distribution for O 2 nightglow at the equinoxes had three peaks, lying at 30° in the spring and autumn hemispheres and at the equator, and the peak height at the equator was the lowest. The distributions for both OH and O 2 nightglow emissions at the solstices had three peaks. Both nightglow intensities in the tropics had obvious annual and semi-annual variations, the peaks and valleys for semi-annual variations appeared near the equinoxes and solstices, respectively, and the peak at the March equinox was larger than that at the September equinox. The distributions of both OH and O 2 nightglow intensities showed a hemispheric asymmetry.