Perfluorinated alkyl acids (PFAAs) have been produced for more than 50 years and are today ubiquitous in the global environment, wildlife (including in the Arctic) and humans. Without better determining the physical-chemical properties and environmental cycling behaviour of these compounds our ability to understand their fate, transport, exposure and risk will remain hindered. We propose experimental work to measure key physical-chemical and partitioning properties of PFAAs, namely acid dissociation constants and gas-particle partitioning in outdoor air. We also propose laboratory experiments to measure water-to-air transport by marine aerosols, which is a potentially important long-range transport process. These new physical-chemical properties, partition coefficients and marine aerosol measurements will enable us to better constrain our previously developed global modelling tools and thus to provide a better explanation of the environmental cycling of PFAAs. Such knowledge is essential for the implementation of informed and effective chemical management strategies.
