The frigid Arctic Ocean is far removed from the places most people live, but even so, "forever chemicals" reach this remote landscape. Now, research in Environmental Science & Technology Letters suggests that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) won't stay there indefinitely. Instead, they are transported in a feedback loop, with the Arctic Ocean potentially exporting as many PFAS to the North Atlantic Ocean as it receives, circulating the compounds around the world.
To get to the Arctic Ocean, some PFAS hitch a ride in the air and fall onto the ocean's surface, but others enter from adjacent oceans. The potential impact of these compounds on marine organisms depends on which PFAS are present and how many, which is ever-changing as water flows between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean.