EGU26-3434, updated on 16 Mar 2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3434
EGU General Assembly 2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Poster | Wednesday, 06 May, 08:30–10:15 (CEST), Display time Wednesday, 06 May, 08:30–12:30
 
Hall A, A.26
Exploring Transferability of Plastic-Water Hyacinth Interaction and Detection in Rivers
Giel Hagenbeek1, Tim van Emmerik2, Tianlong Jia3,4, Pummarin Khamdahsag5, Kittiphon Boonma6, Riccardo Taormina3, Thomas Mani7, and Marc Rußwurm1
Giel Hagenbeek et al.
  • 1Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Wageningen University and research, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Wageningen Gelderland 6708 PB, the Netherlands
  • 2Hydrology and Environmental Hydraulics Group, Wageningen University and research, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Wageningen Gelderland 6708 PB, the Netherlands
  • 3Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Department of Water Management, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands
  • 4Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Water and Environment, Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 5Sustainable Environment Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
  • 6Geoinformatics Center, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand
  • 7The Ocean Cleanup, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Rivers are major pathways for plastic pollution to oceans, with high emissions observed in tropical regions. Invasive water hyacinths (WHs) can trap macroplastics and serve as proxies for detecting river plastic using remote sensing. We explore how this phenomenon and its detection methods are transferable to Thailand’s Chao Phraya River. Along a 62 km river course, up to 78% of floating plastics were trapped in WHs (average 32%), comparable to the Saigon River (58–82%). Although trapped proportions decreased downstream, plastic concentration in WHs was 59 times higher than in open water. Object detection models transferred well for WHs and entangled plastics (Chao Phraya: mAP50 = 68% and 54%; Saigon River: mAP50 = 70% and 52%), but poorly for free-floating plastics (23% vs. 48%). Physical sampling found 14 times more plastics within WHs than imagery, highlighting WHs’ role in trapping plastics and their potential role in monitoring and clean-up efforts.

How to cite: Hagenbeek, G., van Emmerik, T., Jia, T., Khamdahsag, P., Boonma, K., Taormina, R., Mani, T., and Rußwurm, M.: Exploring Transferability of Plastic-Water Hyacinth Interaction and Detection in Rivers, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-3434, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3434, 2026.