Three papers published that improve our understanding of atmospheric PFAS

The group recently published three papers that improve our understanding of the abundance, sources, and fate of atmospheric PFAS.

  1. Daniel’s paper describing PFAS in an ice core from Mt. Oxford icefield in Nunavut, Canada was recently published in ESPI. This ice core represented 50 years of deposition and showed evidence of both direct and indirect sources of PFAS to this remote location.

  2. Stephen’s new method that allows for the measurement of total fluorine in the gas phase was recently published in ES&T Letters. Application of the total gaseous fluorine method alongside speciated measurements shows there is a large quantity of “missing” fluorine in the atmosphere, similar to previous observations in the condensed phase.

  3. A collaborative paper reported the first in situ ambient atmospheric measurements of PFCAs. The measurements were made using acetate-CIMS and showed atmospheric formation dominated the observed PFCAs, even in urban Toronto.

To read more about Daniel’s and Stephen’s papers, see this additional context.

Segments of an ice core lined up on the Mt Oxford icefield

Group members attend CSC meeting in Winnipeg

Lisa, Mayre, Stephen, Andrea, Na-Yung, and Cora attended the CSC meeting in Winnipeg in early June. All team members gave great presentations. Special congratulations to Lisa who received a presentation award!

York U students with atmospheric chemistry legend, Prof. Barb Finlayson-Pitts, who was a plenary speaker at the CSC.

Lisa presenting her award-winning poster!

Group members attend Fluoros 2023

Daniel, Jessica, and Cora attended the Fluoros meeting held in Idstein, Germany from Aug 31-Sep 1.

Jessica presented her direct inject IC-MS method for ultra-short chain PFCAs and Daniel presented his analysis of PFAS in an ice core from the Canadian High Arctic. Cora presented atmospheric sampling methods from several group members, including CIMS (Shira, Ye), AIM-IC-MS (Jessica, Shira, Mayre, Eric), and total gaseous fluorine (Stephen).

Jessica, Daniel, and Cora with group alumna Heidi overlooking Frankfurt from the observation tower at the Cathedral of St. Bartholemew.

Team members attend the CSC in Vancouver

Group members Eric and Stephen, as well as group alum Shira, travelled to CSC to present their work. Cora presented work from group members, including Daniel, Jessica, Alessia, Eric, and Shira.

Congratulations to Eric for winning a best student poster award for his presentation!

Eric presents his (award-winning) poster at CSC 2023.

Stephen gives his talk at CSC 2023.

Goodbye Shira and welcome Mayré!

We bid farewell to postdoctoral researcher, Shira, as she embarks on a few well-deserved months off before starting as an Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta. We are sad to see her go, but excited to see her flourish in her new role!

We also welcome new graduate student, Mayré, to the team. We are excited to have her as part of the group!