Azimuthal variations of gas-phase oxygen abundance in NGC 2997
  The azimuthal variation of the HII region oxygen abundance in spiral galaxies
is a key observable for understanding how quickly oxygen produced by massive
stars can be dispersed within the surrounding interstellar medium.
Observational constraints on the prevalence and magnitude of such azimuthal
variations remain rare in the literature. Here, we report the discovery of
pronounced azimuthal variations of HII region oxygen abundance in NGC 2997, a
spiral galaxy at approximately 11.3 Mpc. Using 3D spectroscopic data from the
TYPHOON Program, we study the HII region oxygen abundance at a physical
resolution of 125 pc. Individual HII regions or complexes are identified in the
3D optical data and their strong emission line fluxes measured to constrain
their oxygen abundances. We find 0.06 dex azimuthal variations in the oxygen
abundance on top of a radial abundance gradient that is comparable to those
seen in other star-forming disks. At a given radial distance, the oxygen
abundances are highest in the spiral arms and lower in the inter-arm regions,
similar to what has been reported in NGC 1365 using similar observations. We
discuss whether the azimuthal variations could be recovered when the galaxy is
observed at worse physical resolutions and lower signal-to-noise ratios.
