Known to the locals as the “Stargazers”, scientists at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) Lauder station have collected data and carried out research for 60 years. This work has contributed significantly to the world's understanding of our atmosphere and climate.

The Lauder research station, chosen for its clear skies and geographical isolation, is one of the world’s premier atmospheric research sites and provides data for international organisations such as NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Agency (NOAA) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The research site was originally set up to study the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) and the affiliated radar aurora, where radar waves are reflected from an electrically charged region 100 kilometres above the earth (known as the ionosphere). Before the advent of satellites in the 1950s and 1960s, radar waves were the only form of global communications apart from submarine cables.

In the 1970s, the Lauder research station began stratospheric research (the stratosphere is the second layer of the atmosphere from the Earth, after the troposphere). This interest was due to planned supersonic aircraft, their emission of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and its destruction of ozone. In 1985, atmospheric research in the Antarctic led to the discovery of the ozone hole. Lauder research helped determine the cause of the ozone hole and other measurement programmes began, including ozone, ultraviolet (UV) radiation and trace gases.