The transient Stokes Raman spectroscopy method is introduced to study the dynamics of OH-stretching vibrations in water excited by ultrashort infrared pulses. The combination of Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman probing allows the the absorption and emission contributions to be measured separately. Experiments with 3400 cm(-1) pumping of OH-stretching of HOD solute in D2O solvent are reported. The Stokes Raman method is used to study the delay between the excited-state decay and the ground-state recovery, the vibrational Stokes shift, and the generation of weakened hydrogen bonding due to heat released by vibrational relaxation. (C) 2004 Elsevier BN. All rights reserved.