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Trapping of plastics in semi-enclosed seas: Insights from the Bohai Sea, China
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A computer model was used to simulate how microplastics become trapped in the semi-enclosed Bohai Sea in China, using field data to validate predictions. Semi-enclosed seas like the Bohai accumulate plastic pollution from surrounding land sources and can retain it for long periods.
Microplastics are abundant in semi-enclosed seas, presumably because of local trapping. To investigate this trapping effect, we confronted the SLIM plastic oceanography model with field data of the distribution of microplastics in the Bohai Sea, China. Seven source locations were selected to reveal the fate of plastic debris from industrial and domestic usages. The model predictions compared well with the observed distribution of microplastics, highlighting that most plastics were trapped in the Bohai Sea. The model suggests that microplastics distribution within the Bohai Sea both in the water and on the bottom varies seasonally with wind and currents and depends on a complex interaction between source locations, prevailing hydrodynamic conditions, degradation, settling and resuspension rates. Further field studies are warranted to enable the models to better parameterize the fate of microplastics, and particularly the accumulation zones, in other poorly flushed semi-enclosed seas worldwide, where microplastics should be classified as a persistent pollutant.
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