We present an analysis of high resolution HST Space Telescope Imaging
Spectrograph (STIS) observations of O I 1356 and H I Lyman-alpha absorption in
36 sight lines that probe a variety of Galactic disk environments and include
paths that range over nearly 4 orders of magnitude in f(H_2), over 2 orders of
magnitude in mean sight line density, and that extend up to 6.5 kpc in length.
Consequently, we have undertaken the study of gas-phase O/H abundance ratio
homogeneity using the current sample and previously published Goddard
High-Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) results. Two distinct trends are identified
in the 56 sight line sample: an apparent decrease in gas-phase oxygen abundance
with increasing mean sight line density and a gap between the mean O/H ratio
for sight lines shorter and longer than about 800 pc. The first effect is a
smooth transition between two depletion levels associated with large mean
density intervals; it is centered near a density of 1.5 cm^-3 and is similar to
trends evident in gas-phase abundances of other elements. Paths less dense than
the central value exhibit a mean O/H ratio of log_10 (O/H) = -3.41+/-0.01 (or
390+/-10 ppm), which is consistent with averages determined for several long,
low-density paths observed by STIS (Andre et al. 2003) and short low-density
paths observed by FUSE (Moos et al. 2002). Sight lines of higher mean density
exhibit an average O/H value of log_10 (O/H) = -3.55+/-0.02 (284+/-12 ppm). The
datapoints for low-density paths are scattered more widely than those for
denser sight lines, due to O/H ratios for paths shorter than 800 pc that are
generally about 0.10 dex lower than the values for longer ones.Comment: 33 pages, including 8 figures and 4 tables; accepted for publication
in ApJ, tentatively in Oct 200