AccScience Publishing / AJWEP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/AJWEP025170129
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Modeling river-to-sea plastic waste dynamics using OpenDrift: A case study in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam

Thi Mai Anh Tran1 ,  Thi Phuong Thao Do2* ,  Anh Quan Duong2 ,  Van Tuan Nghiem3
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1 Faculty of Natural Resources Management, Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, Thai Nguyen, Thai Nguyen, Vietnam
2 Department of Cartography, Faculty of Geoinformatics, Hanoi University of Mining and Geology, Hanoi, Vietnam
3 Vietnam National Remote Sensing Station, Department of National Remote Sensing, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, Hanoi, Vietnam
AJWEP, 025170129 https://doi.org/10.36922/AJWEP025170129
Received: 25 April 2025 | Revised: 21 June 2025 | Accepted: 24 June 2025 | Published online: 9 July 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Plastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems represents a significant and escalating global environmental crisis, demanding urgent scientific and policy attention. This study examines the transport and accumulation patterns of plastic waste originating from the Ma, Lach Bang, and Len Rivers in Thanh Hoa province, Vietnam. To simulate these dynamics, we employed the OpenDrift modeling framework, which integrates high-resolution environmental parameters such as wave action, wind patterns, ocean currents, temperature, and salinity. Simulations were conducted across four seasonal scenarios (winter, transitional periods, and summer) and were validated against unmanned aerial vehicle imagery, demonstrating strong spatial concordance in accumulation patterns. The results reveal marked seasonal variability: winter conditions, dominated by the Northeast monsoon and reduced river discharge, led to localized accumulation along southern coastal zones, whereas summer conditions, characterized by intensified river flow and Southwest monsoon winds, facilitated extensive offshore dispersion. These findings unveil critical, previously overlooked patterns of plastic waste dynamics, guiding precise risk mapping and strategic interventions for sustainable marine management in Thanh Hoa and beyond.

Keywords
Waste transportation
Plastdrift
Seasonal scenarios
Marine environments
Funding
This paper was supported by the national project titled “Research and Development of Technology to Investigate, Monitor, and Map the Risk Zoning of Plastic Waste Pollution in Vietnam’s Sea” (project code: ĐTĐL.CN-55/20).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Electronic ISSN: 1875-8568 Print ISSN: 0972-9860, Published by AccScience Publishing
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