Simulating the ENSO impact on the distribution and fate of floating litter particles in the Northern South China Sea

IF 3 2区生物学 Q1 MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY Frontiers in Marine Science Pub Date : 2025-01-28 DOI:10.3389/fmars.2024.1494809

Ke Pang, Yang Feng, Youchang Zheng, Chao Fang, Xiangrong Xu

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Abstract

The Pearl River delivers a large amount of plastic waste to the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) and adjacent Northern South China Sea (NSCS) region each year. However, the transport of floating litter after release is difficult to predict due to the complex hydrodynamic conditions caused by the climate variability. A regional ocean circulation model coupled with a Lagrangian particle tracking model is utilized in this study to simulate the distribution and fate of floating litter particles in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) and Northern South China Sea (NSCS) under the influence of El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event. Simulations are conducted during all four seasons (spring, summer, fall, and winter) in typical El Niño, La Niña, and ENSO-neutral year. The model reveals that most floating litter remains within Lingding Bay before being transported westward by the counterclockwise circulation over the NSCS and arriving at the Qiongzhou Strait. After crossing the Strait, the debris is carried by the counterclockwise circulation of the Beibu Gulf, and eventually arriving at the coasts of Vietnam and Laos. The ENSO warm (El Niño) and cold (La Niña) phases disrupt circulation patterns and modulate the amount of Pearl River runoff, thereby altering the transport pathways and grounding probabilities of floating litter. During La Niña years, floating litter particles spread over a wider area, travel longer distances, and have lower beaching probabilities. Conversely, during El Niño year, floating litter particles tend to remain within Lingding Bay for longer durations, with some debris entrained towards the Hong Kong region. This study underscores the impact of climate mode of variability in influencing the litter sources, fate and transport and accumulation at estuarine-coastal oceans, which will provide critical scientific insights for plastic pollution management in the PRE - NSCS region, which is a newly identified hotspot for floating litter and microplastic pollution in global oceans.

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模拟ENSO对南海北部漂浮垃圾颗粒分布和命运的影响

珠江每年向珠江口（PRE）和邻近的南中国海北部（NSCS）地区输送大量塑料废物。然而，由于气候变率引起的水动力条件复杂，漂浮凋落物释放后的迁移难以预测。本文利用区域海洋环流模式和拉格朗日粒子跟踪模式，模拟了El Niño -南方涛动（ENSO）事件影响下珠江口和南海北部漂浮凋落物粒子的分布和归宿。在典型的El Niño、La Niña和enso中性年进行了春、夏、秋、冬四个季节的模拟。模型显示，大部分浮物停留在灵定湾内，然后被NSCS上空的逆时针环流向西输送到达琼州海峡。穿过海峡后，碎片被北部湾逆时针环流携带，最终到达越南和老挝海岸。ENSO暖期（El Niño）和冷期（La Niña）破坏了环流模式，调节了珠江径流的数量，从而改变了漂浮垃圾的运输途径和搁浅概率。在La Niña年期间，漂浮的垃圾颗粒在更广泛的区域传播，传播距离更长，并且有更低的搁浅概率。相反，在El Niño年，漂浮的垃圾颗粒倾向于在伶仃湾停留更长时间，其中一些碎片被带到香港地区。该研究强调了气候模式的变异对河口-沿海海洋垃圾来源、命运、运输和积累的影响，为PRE - NSCS地区的塑料污染管理提供了重要的科学见解，该地区是全球海洋漂浮垃圾和微塑料污染的新热点。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Frontiers in Marine Science Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Aquatic Science

CiteScore

5.10

自引率

16.20%

发文量

2443

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Marine Science publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research that advances our understanding of all aspects of the environment, biology, ecosystem functioning and human interactions with the oceans. Field Chief Editor Carlos M. Duarte at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Thuwal is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, policy makers and the public worldwide. With the human population predicted to reach 9 billion people by 2050, it is clear that traditional land resources will not suffice to meet the demand for food or energy, required to support high-quality livelihoods. As a result, the oceans are emerging as a source of untapped assets, with new innovative industries, such as aquaculture, marine biotechnology, marine energy and deep-sea mining growing rapidly under a new era characterized by rapid growth of a blue, ocean-based economy. The sustainability of the blue economy is closely dependent on our knowledge about how to mitigate the impacts of the multiple pressures on the ocean ecosystem associated with the increased scale and diversification of industry operations in the ocean and global human pressures on the environment. Therefore, Frontiers in Marine Science particularly welcomes the communication of research outcomes addressing ocean-based solutions for the emerging challenges, including improved forecasting and observational capacities, understanding biodiversity and ecosystem problems, locally and globally, effective management strategies to maintain ocean health, and an improved capacity to sustainably derive resources from the oceans.