Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research
Coordinates: 33°58′31″N 107°10′51″W / 33.9753°N 107.1807°W
The Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research is a scientific laboratory studying the cloud processes that produce lightning, hail, and rain, located in the Magdalena Mountains of central New Mexico in the United States. The lab is operated by the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NM Tech) with funding from the National Science Foundation.
The lab was founded in 1963, following pioneering research by E. J. Workman, former president of New Mexico Tech (then the New Mexico School of Mines), and others, including Irving Langmuir, the namesake of the laboratory. The earlier studies took place on the Plains of San Agustin and the San Mateo Mountains.
The laboratory is located just south of South Baldy, the highest peak of the Magdalena mountains, at the southern end of the main ridge crest of the range, at an elevation of 10,679 ft (3,255 m). It occupies the Langmuir Research Site, a congressionally designated area within the Cibola National Forest, and operates under a Special Use Permit from the US Forest Service. The Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer is under construction (as of 2007) nearby.