Minnesota Sea Grant Research and Fellowship Coordinator Alex Frie will be presenting at the 68th Annual Conference on Great Lakes Research, hosted by the International Association of Great Lakes Research (IAGLR). His session is titled "Atmospheric Deposition of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): Connecting PFAS in Precipitation to PFAS in Lake Sediments."
The conference will be held in a hybrid format. Registration is required.
When
Thursday, June 5, 2025
8:40 - 9:00 a.m. CT
Location
Baird Center
400 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53203
Registration
Please visit IAGLR's conference website for details on in-person and virtual registration.
Presentation Abstract
The atmospheric deposition of PFAS is an important and possibly dominant source of PFAS to the Great Lakes. To investigate the chemical profile (fingerprint) and importance of PFAS deposited through atmospheric deposition, wet deposition (rain and snow) samples were collected weekly from a suite of National Atmospheric Deposition - National Trends Network (NADP-NTN) precipitation monitoring sites in Minnesota and Michigan beginning summer 2023, and analyzed for 33 PFAS compounds.
Wet-deposited PFAS had a distinct compositional profile, with perfluorocarboxylic acids comprising greater than 80% of observed PFAS mass flux. The PFAS profile in wet deposition also varied temporally and spatially, suggesting distinct regional sources. Additionally, analysis of PFAS in sediments from a remote lake in northern Minnesota with primarily atmospheric inputs (Loaine Lake) displayed a similar compositional profile to wet-deposited PFAS, suggesting the chemical profile of wet-deposited PFAS may be partially conserved in lake sediments.
Finally, initial comparisons of wet-deposited PFAS profiles to profiles measured in Great Lake sediments by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes Sediment Surveillance Program show similarities between offshore sites in Lake Superior and wet deposition, suggesting the possible importance of atmospheric inputs to PFAS observed in Lake Superior sediments.
Event Organizer
This event is organized by the conservation sciences graduate program at the University of Minnesota.
Contact
Alex Frie, research and fellowship coordinator, Minnesota Sea Grant. [email protected].
Image credit: UMPR.