Anomalous oxygen is hot atomic and singly ionized oxygen believed to be present in Earth's

exosphere The exosphere ( grc, ἔξω "outside, external, beyond", grc, σφαῖρα "sphere") is a thin, atmosphere-like volume surrounding a planet or natural satellite where molecules are gravitationally bound to that body, but where the densit ...

above 500 km near the poles during their respective summers. This additional component augmenting mainly the hydrogen and helium exosphere is able to explain the unexpectedly high drag forces on satellites passing near the poles in their summers. Anomalous oxygen densities are included in the NRLMSISE-00 models of Earth's atmosphere. Picone, J. M.; Hedin, A. E.; Drob, D. P.; Aikin, A. C. (2002-12-01). "NRLMSISE-00 empirical model of the atmosphere: Statistical comparisons and scientific issues". Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 107 (A12): 1468. . ISSN 2156-2202.

References

Oxygen Atmospheric chemistry Ionosphere {{astrophysics-stub