The electrical resistance of epitaxial Cu(001) sequentially increases, decreases, and again increases when exposed to 10(-3)-10(5) Pa s of O-2. This is attributed to partial specular surface scattering for smooth clean Cu(001) and for the surface with a complete adsorbed monolayer, but diffuse scattering at partial coverage and after chemical oxidation. A model relates the surface coverage to the specularity parameter and finds adatom and advacancy scattering cross-sections of 0.8 +/- 0.2 and 0.06 +/- 0.03 nm(2), which are qualitatively validated by nonequilibrium ab initio transport simulations. The rates for resistance change are proportional to the O-2 partial pressure. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3489357]