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Ocean waves crashing on the world’s shores emit more PFAS into the air than the world’s industrial polluters, new research has found, raising concerns about environmental contamination and human exposure along coastlines.
The study measured levels of PFAS released from the bubbles that burst when waves crash, spraying aerosols into the air. It found sea spray levels were hundreds of thousands times higher than levels in the water.
The contaminated spray likely affects groundwater, surface water, vegetation, and agricultural products near coastlines that are far from industrial sources of PFAS, said Ian Cousins, a Stockholm University researcher and the study’s lead author.
“There is evidence that the ocean can be an important source [of PFAS air emissions],” Cousins said. “It is definitely impacting the coastline.”
PFAS are a class of 15,000 chemicals used across dozens of industries to make products resistant to water, stains and heat. Though the compounds are highly effective, they are also linked to cancer, kidney disease, birth defects, decreased immunity, liver problems and a range of other serious diseases.
They are dubbed “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down and are highly mobile once in the environment, so they continuously move through the ground, water and air. PFAS have been detected in all corners of the globe, from penguin eggs in Antarctica to polar bears in the Arctic.
The Stockholm researchers several years ago found that PFAS from ocean waves crashing are released into the air around shorelines, then can travel thousands of kilometers through the atmosphere before the chemicals return to land.
The new research looked at levels in the sea spray as waves crash by testing ocean samples between Southampton in the UK and Chile. The chemicals’ levels were higher in the northern hemisphere in general because it is more industrialized and there is not much mixing of water across the equator, Cousins said.
It is unclear what the findings mean for human exposure. Inhalation of PFAS is an issue, but how much of the chemicals are breathed in, and air concentrations further from the waves, is still unknown.
Previous non-peer-reviewed research has found a correlation between higher PFAS levels in vegetation samples and proximity to the ocean, Cousin said, and his team is undertaking a similar study.
He said that the results showed how the chemicals are powerful surfactants that concentrate on the surface of water, which helps explain why they move from the ocean to the air and atmosphere.
“We thought PFAS were going to go into the ocean and would disappear, but they cycle around and come back to land, and this could continue for a long time into the future,” he said.
Also for reference, here is Frontier's policy.
The TLDR is that you are not really due anything more that what you've already gotten (and I know this may sound chastising or blaming, but I'm just trying to be upfront about what is legally due in the US for a domestic flight. In some cases, e.g. if you were flying to/from the EU, you would be due more protections):Frontier flight to Orlando
If this was an "uncontrollable situation" you are due nothing (as the flight did take off and you did not choose to not take the flight, in which case you would have been due a refund since the delay was 3+ hours, according to Frontier's policy). If this was a "controllable situation" you would have been due meal vouchers, but otherwise everything is the same. This is from Frontier's policy.Frontier flight from Orlando
Frontier is not responsible for your hotel expenses, as an incidental expense, as per DOT policy.Frontier would have been responsible for rebooking you on the next available Frontier flight, but it sounds like you had trouble doing so. This is a part where I'm not 100% sure, because if you argued that you would have liked to have been rebooked on the next Frontier flight but no one and no tool was available to rebook you, did they really offer this?
However, since you took the refund from Frontier for its canceled flight, Frontier will likely argue that they fulfilled their obligation to you. (Airlines aren't obligated to both refund a canceled flight and rebook you for free on their next available flight -- doing one fulfills their obligation to you.)
United flight to Denver
If this were a "controllable delay" United should have offered you meal vouchers (as per its commitment to offer meal vouchers for controllable delays of 3+ hours) and if it resulted in an overnight delay, vouchers for a hotel, as per United's policy and the DOT dashboard linked above. But otherwise, as the flight was not canceled, United is not obligated to offer you anything else. If you had chosen not to fly on this flight, this would likely have been considered a "significant delay" under DOT policy and you could have gotten a refund for the flight. The $50 voucher / 2500 miles are a goodwill gesture and not required by any US policy.United flight from Denver to San Antonio
Unless this flight was canceled, United is also not responsible for refunding you, because this was on a separate booking. Missing the second flight in a separate booking because the first flight was delayed or canceled doesn't obligate the second airline to re-accommodate you. (Unless you somehow bought the Frontier and United tickets together on the same booking, which is very unlikely as they are not codeshare or alliance partners).posted by andrewesque at 4:56 AM on April 18 [5 favorites]