Constraining global transport of perfluoroalkyl acids on sea spray aerosol using field measurements

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adl1026

5 April 2024

“… Our estimates suggest that the remobilization of PFOA and PFOS on SSA (sea spray aerosols) is an important contributor to atmospheric PFAAs, and that the contribution can be comparable to or even greater than other known sources….

To summarize, we demonstrate that PFAAs are highly enriched in nascent SSA and estimate that they are remobilized from the oceans in substantial quantities to the atmosphere as a consequence. These findings have implications for human exposure to PFAAs, especially in coastal regions, and this merits further investigation. For example, our estimates include neither the contribution of shoreline wave breaking to the atmospheric burden of PFAAs nor the influence of the higher concentrations of PFAAs generally found in coastal regions. As such, our estimates on the deposition of PFAAs to coastal regions following their remobilization through SSA are likely to be conservative…”