Combining multi-source data to explore a mechanism for the effects of micrometeorological elements on nutrient variations in paddy land water

Paddy land plays a key role in global crop production. Thus, paddy land water is a potential source of nitrogen and phosphorus; both nutrients largely contribute to non-point source pollution because they usually vary closely with micrometeorological elements (MEs) during the growth period. However, few studies have focused on the mechanism of co-variation between nutrients and MEs at the field scale. The relationships between nutrients in the paddy land water and MEs as well as soil water content, soil temperature, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) are still unclear. In this paper, an in situ experiment was designed to obtain 5 years of meteorological data and nutrient data (nitrogen and phosphorus); the size of the experiment plot is in accordance with the spatial resolution of NDVI data. Multi-source meteorological and satellite data were integrated to explore the mechanism of co-variation. The results show that precipitation, air temperature, and solar radiation are the three MEs significantly affecting the nitrogen concentration in the paddy land water during the growth period. The air temperature is the most important ME influencing the phosphorus concentration. At the same time, the NDVI, as an effective indicator of the photosynthetic potential of rice used to explore the relationship between nutrients, has a prominent influence on soluble nutrients, especially on dissolved phosphorus. These findings could significantly improve our understanding about the responses of paddy land nutrients during the growth period to the surrounding drivers, inclusive of MEs, soil water, soil temperature, and NDVI. Undoubtedly, it is a potentially helpful means to monitor the sources of non-point pollution.