Resonance Raman spectra are presented for the nitrate anion, NO3-, in water, ethylene glycol, methanol, and acetonitrile solution at six excitation wavelengths from 246 to 204 nm, on resonance with the lowest pi --> pi* excitation. Absolute Raman cross sections for the CH stretches of ethylene glycol and methanol at these wavelengths are also reported. The nitrate spectra in all four solvents are dominated by fundamentals, overtones, and combination bands of the totally symmetric NO stretch (nu (1)) near 1043 cm(-1) and the out-of-phase NO stretches (nu (3)) at 1340-1400 cm(-1), consistent with substantial changes in NO bond length upon pi -electron excitation. The intensity in nu (3) and the approximate to 60 cm(-1) splitting of this nominally degenerate vibration are indicative of pronounced breaking of the isolated molecules D-3h symmetry by the local solvent environment. Intensity in the overtone of the out-of-plane mode (nu (2)) near 830 cm(-1) suggests a change in the equilibrium geometry from planar to pyramidal upon electronic excitation. The absorption spectra and absolute Raman cross sections are simulated with a model that considers resonance with two orthogonally polarized electronic states whose degeneracy is broken by the locally asymmetric environment. Both solvent reorganization and geometry changes along the nitrate molecular vibrations make major contributions to the breadth of the absorption band. No differences between resonant and nonresonant linewidths are observed for the nu (1) band.