About
Founding and Authority to operate Langmuir Lab
With funds from the National Science Foundation, Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research was built in 1963 near the summit of 10,783-ft South Baldy Peak to provide a base for the study of cloud processes that produce lightning, hail, and rain. The need for the laboratory arose following the pioneering research into thunderstorms over New Mexico by E. J. Workman that began in the 1930s. During his tenure as President of New Mexico School of Mines (now New Mexico Tech) he was joined by other scientists including Nobel Laureate Dr. Irving Langmuir, in 1947, in whose honor the laboratory is named. These and other early studies in the nearby Plains of San Agustin and the San Mateo Mountains led to the building of Langmuir Lab in the Magdalena Mountains. The Magdalena Mountains offer favorable conditions for the study of storms because many occur there during the summer, and often the storms are isolated, stationary, and relatively small. Public Law 96-550, passed by Congress in 1980, established 31,000 acres within the Cibola National Forest as the Langmuir Research Site in order to encourage scientific studies in atmospheric processes and astronomic events. Langmuir Laboratory is operated under a Special Use Permit issued on 03/12/92 by the U.S. Forest Service, and an annual Operation and Maintenance Plan jointly prepared by the Magdalena District Ranger and Langmuir Laboratory.
Links
Personal Websites of Currently Active Faculty
Pardon Our Dust
On September 4, 2024 the NM Tech IT department informed us that the bespoke Langmuir webserver was a clear and present security risk and to upgrade immediately or be disconnected. We upgraded ... and it killed the server once and for all. We will bring it back, but in the meantime there are papers to write, students to teach and thunderstorms to chase, so it might be a couple of months for the website to be fully restored. In the meantime, the scientists and staff at Langmuir Lab are still working and continuing our 60+ year mission to understand lightning!
LMA
Langmuir Lab Lightning Mapping Array (LLLMA)
Contact Us
Interested in a collaboration? Questions about lightning or Langmuir Lab? Comments about this site? Please reach out! melanie.giron@nmt.edu (Please include "Website Question" in your subject line.)