Cascading Delays in the Monsoon Rice Growing Season and Postmonsoon Agricultural Fires Likely Exacerbate Air Pollution in North India

Over the past two decades, smoke aerosols from crop residue burning have increasingly degraded postmonsoon (October-November) air quality in north India. We use satellite data and atmospheric modeling to investigate whether cascading delays in monsoon rice growth and postmonsoon fires over 2003–2019 have exacerbated the already poor urban air quality downwind of the fires. Beginning in 2008, a government effort to combat groundwater depletion in Punjab mandated rice sowing until closer to the arrival of monsoon rains. We find evidence of district-level delays in the timing of both monsoon rice growth and postmonsoon fires, which vary from 1 to 4 weeks with largely an east-west gradient. These delays are correlated spatially (r = 0.51–0.77), with northern and western districts in Punjab, which rely less on groundwater for irrigation, tending to have the greatest delays. Had the delays in fire activity not occurred, we estimate that cities downwind and near the fire source would have consistently seen less smoke-related fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), on average ranging from 11% to 21% for New Delhi, Bathinda, and Jind during 2008–2019. This net benefit of earlier postmonsoon burning could have been even larger given that (a) a longer rice-to-wheat transition could incentivize farmers to find alternatives to burning crop residues; and (b) background PM_2.5 is less abundant earlier in the season, decreasing the likelihood of extreme pollution episodes. Strategies aiming to mitigate air pollution while conserving groundwater may be more effective by promoting an earlier monsoon growing season in districts with less groundwater depletion.