Sea foam reveals hidden PFAS pathways in marine systems
26 Jun 2026
Prof. Erin Baker of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill takes us inside her investigation of PFAS in coastal sea foam, revealing how these 'forever chemicals' accumulate and move through marine environments. She explains the scientific motivation behind targeting foam, and shares her insight into why tracking these contaminants across ecosystems is essential for understanding exposure. By utilizing mass spectrometry coupled with liquid chromatography, she generated detailed PFAS profiles that advance environmental monitoring.
This video was filmed at ASMS 2026.
Video transcript
Show transcript
Studying PFAS in coastal environments is very important. We’ve found that there can be PFAS in the atmosphere, in the water, and actually even in the sea spray when the waves hit. And one of our recent papers showed that we found PFAS in the foams that come from the coastal waters. And if you see very, very dirty looking foams on the beach, we’ve seen high levels of PFAS in those foams because the PFAS chemistry is very similar to the foam chemistry. PFAS are very hydrophobic molecules and they don’t like to be in water. So we thought it would be really interesting to look at them at foam because some groups are actually using foam to do remediation of a PFAS and pull them out of the water. So that’s when we started looking, and it was kind of scary high concentrations in the foams.
Performing the evaluations of the PFAS in the foam was actually quite interesting and a little bit challenging because instead of getting a certain volume of water or like even a certain volume of air, when you get foam you just kind of get poofy, fluffy samples. So we really had to think about how much PFAS we were collecting or how much foam we were collecting to do the PFAS analysis. So we had to do a lot of work of adding water to the foams or adding different solvents to the foams to do the concentration evaluations.
To study PFAS in foams, we love using mass spectrometry and also coupling that with liquid chromatography. So that allows us to really get a lot of information about the polarity of the molecules and then also the masses of the PFAS that are present in the foams. So both doing targeted evaluations and then suspect screening of other PFAS that are there were fundamental for our studies.
The future of PFAS evaluations is so important, and we really need to think about the different types of animals and environments we need to look at. So looking at air samples, water samples, but also looking at our friends in the environment, like our marine mammals, our fish, all those other things that can be exposed is extremely important. And then looking at humans, how they can get exposure through the foods that we’re eating, the air we’re breathing, and the water we’re drinking.
What does this video cover?
Topics covered in this video
- How does Prof. Erin Baker investigate PFAS in coastal sea foam at UNC Chapel Hill?
- Why do PFAS accumulate in dirty coastal sea foam and sea spray?
- How does mass spectrometry with liquid chromatography reveal detailed PFAS profiles in marine environments?
- What challenges arise when quantifying PFAS in fluffy coastal foam samples?
- How does tracking PFAS across air, water, and marine mammals improve exposure assessment?
FAQs
How does Prof. Erin Baker study PFAS contamination in coastal sea foam and marine environments?
Prof. Erin Baker investigates PFAS in coastal sea foam to understand how these forever chemicals accumulate and move through marine environments. Her team collects foam samples from coastal waters and evaluates PFAS concentrations by adding water or solvents. They use liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry to generate detailed PFAS profiles, enabling both targeted analysis and suspect screening of contaminants in sea foam.
Why are PFAS in coastal sea foam and sea spray a concern for environmental exposure?
PFAS are hydrophobic molecules that prefer foam over water, leading to high concentrations in coastal foams and sea spray. These forever chemicals can be present in the atmosphere, water, and sea spray when waves hit. Their accumulation in foam raises concerns about how PFAS move across ecosystems, potentially exposing marine mammals, fish, and humans through air, water, and food pathways.
What role do mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography play in PFAS monitoring?
Prof. Erin Baker explains how mass spectrometry coupled with liquid chromatography is central to PFAS monitoring in coastal foams. This analytical workflow provides information on PFAS polarity and mass, enabling detailed contaminant profiling. It supports both targeted PFAS evaluations and suspect screening, advancing environmental monitoring of PFAS across marine environments and helping track exposure risks in animals and humans.