Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 1-Faculty of Social Science, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran. & 4-Geography Department, Payame-Noor University, Tehran, Iran
2 Professor of climatology, Faculty of Social Science, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
3 Iranian Meteorological Organization (IRIMO), East Azerbaijan Province Central Bureau of Meteorology, Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the long-term fluctuations and trend in horizontal visibility in the northwest of Iran. For this purpose, hourly horizontal visibility data from 7 synoptic stations were used for the period of 1951-2020. The Koschmieder approach was used to calculate the extinction coefficient. Moreover, the Mann-Kendall and Rdit tests were applied to examine the trend of horizontal visibility. Also, the percentages of very good visibility (>19 km) compared with bad (<10 km) visibilities. Based on the results the annual average of horizontal visibility in northwest of Iran is ~13 km. This study showed three different fluctuation periods in the regional average of horizontal visibility: the first period (1951-1985) showed a sharp decrease in the visibility, the second period (1987-2005) was characterized by a low and stable visibility, and the third period showed a recent relative improvement. The regional average of horizontal visibility (extinction coefficient) exhibited a significant decreasing (increasing) trend of -0.167(0.0017) km per year at a confidence level of 0.01. The significant decreasing trend was confirmed in all stations except for the Ardabil station. The most severe decreasing trend was detected in Sanandaj and Zanjan stations with rates of 0.183 and 0.179 km year-1, respectively. The region-average of Rdit statistic in northwest Iran in the early 1950s was ~0.85, but it decreased to around 0.3 in the 1990s. Despite the recent improvement in horizontal visibility, reaching the reference distribution (i.e. Rdit=~0.5), the decreasing trend of horizontal visibility was still confirmed. The percentage of trend analysis of very good and bad visibility showed an increase in bad visibilities (from 5% to 25%) and a decrease in very good visibilities (from 80% to 5%), which confirms the decreasing trend in horizontal visibility. Hazy condition with 38.7% was the most influential weather phenomenon in visibility degradation.
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