Long-Term Variability of Atmospheric Visual Range (1980–2020) over Diverse Topography of Pakistan

A substantial drop in atmospheric visibility or visual range (VR) is documented several parts of the world. We examined long-term spatiotemporal variability ground-based VR data for ten airports Pakistan from 1980 to 2020. Average time series analysis was performed using nonparametric tests Mann–Kendall (MK), Modified (MMK), Sen’s Slope (SS), and Sequential (SMK), followed by mapping. Bad (<5 km) conditions prevailed over more than 60% study period. Noticeably, better during 1991–2000 due high average annual rainfall (905 mm) 1990s. Plain areas such as Faisalabad experienced greatest number bad days with hourly (92.85%), daily (95.35%), monthly (90.97%), seasonal (90.97%) measurements, Sialkot Multan. The lowlands central, southern, eastern Punjab northern, Sindh showed decreasing trends. In contrast, coastal south southwestern Sindh, western highlands, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, have indicated positive results this will support policymakers catering issue declining region supporting developing strategies limit factor associated VR.