Biosphere 2

BIOSPHERE 2

Saturday, April 18

Biosphere 2  

 

Driving north of Tucson to Oracle, at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains at 4000 feet elevation, we arrived at an exciting place:  Biosphere 2.  Many of us have been wondering about that designation, and soon realized that Biosphere 1 is our Planet Earth.  This complex was built as a science research facility to study Earth systems without harming the Earth.

 

On our docent lead tour, we explored the chambers inside the Biosphere which was constructed between 1987 and 1991.   The glass and steel structure  is the largest closed system anywhere. There are five areas based on biomes, an agricultural area and human living and working spaces.  The interaction between humans, farming and technology with the rest of nature is studied.

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

There is a 1900 sq meter rain forest

 

 

 

An 850 sq meter Ocean with a coral reef

 

 

A 450 sq meter mangrove wetlands

 

A 1300 square meter savannah grassland

 

A 1400 square meter fog desert

 

 

 

Mission 1 closure experiment had a crew of eight people sealed in for two years (September 26, 1991-September 26,1993)  Scientists monitored the continually changing chemistry of the air, water and soil contained within.  Health of the human crew was monitored by a medical doctor inside and an outside medical team.  The agricultural system produced 83% of their total diet including bananas, sweet potatoes, beets, peanuts, cowpeas, rice and wheat.  Initially, the eight inhabitants reported continual hunger; and in the second year they produced a ton more food with an intake of calories allowing them to regain some of the weight lost.

 

kitchen where they prepared food
 

Some of the animals during the first mission included pygmy goats and one billy goat, 36 hens, three roosters, two sows and one boar as well as tilapia fish  Problems encountered were overstocked fish dying, death of pollinating insects, unintentional condensation causing the desert to be too wet, population explosion of green house ants and cockroaches as well as some plants overgrowing others in the rain forest.

 

We also explored inside the “lungs”, used to avoid the fluctuation of a constant volume.  The diaphragms of these “lungs” could expand and retract as needed.  When our docent opened the chamber doors to let us in and out, huge gusts of air almost blew us away (did blow some hats away).

"lung"

 

 

Getting Blown Away

 

In 1995 Columbia University took management of the facility for research and as a campus until 2003.  They changed the virtually airtight closed structure to a “flow through” system, manipulating carbon dioxide levels for global warming research.

 June 26, 2007 the University of Arizona announced it would take over research at the Biosphere 2.  They are now engaged in research projects including terrestrial water cycle and how it relates to ecology, atmospheric science, soil geochemistry and climate change.  In June 2001, the University assumed full ownership of Biosphere 2.

 

After checking out the gift shop, we all headed to Bread and More for an excellent lunch with enough leftovers for tomorrows lunch!

 

Some of the group toured Sabino Canyon and the De Grazia Studi

 

 

 

 

 

A home cooked spaghetti dinner awaited us on our return to the campground.