Scientists have discovered that PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” can be reintroduced into the air by crashing ocean waves. A new study done by the Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, published in Science Advances, shows that this process can in fact emit PFAS into the air at levels that are comparable or greater than other sources.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, are colloquially known as “forever chemicals” for their extreme persistence in the environment. There are thousands of PFAS chemicals, which means they are challenging to study and their specific effects on humans and animals are not fully known. However, some scientific studies have shown that exposure to some PFAS in the environment may be linked to harmful health effects.
“The common belief is that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, drain from the land into the oceans where they stay to be diluted into the deep oceans over the timescale of decades,” said Ian Cousins, Professor at the Department of Environmental Science and co-author of the study. “But we’ve now demonstrated in multiple studies that there’s a boomerang effect, and some of the toxic PFAS are re-emitted to air, transported long distances and then deposited back onto land.”
The discovery was made via field experiments across the Atlantic Ocean conducted by co-authors Bo Sha, post-doc at the Department of Environmental Science and Jana Johansson, former Researcher at the Department of Environmental Science, currently at Linköping University. By using a sea spray simulation chamber, they found that PFAS could be reintroduced to the air via sea spray aerosols. Even more alarmingly, in some cases the concentration of PFAS in the air from sea spray surpassed seawater concentrations by over 100,000 times. The scientists estimated this emission was comparable to or greater than other sources that emit PFAAs into the atmosphere from manufacturing emissions and precursor degradation.
“While our results are scientifically impactful, they are disconcerting, creating a lot of interest among scientists, regulators, and the public,” added main author Bo Sha.
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