Sunday, February 19, 2012 (Catalina State Park, Tucson, AZ)

We had our usual relaxing start to the day...we do like our mornings!  What should we do today?  Perhaps a hike...or the Desert Museum...or horseback riding...hmmm.  I was making breakfast while Steve was on the laptop doing some research when he suggested we go to Biosphere 2...about 17 miles north of us.  I had never heard of it but Steve remembered it vaguely as the place where some scientists lived in a totally self-contained structure for 2 years.  Okay...I’m game...let’s go check it out.

Biosphere 2 was opened to the public in 1990.  “This engineering marvel was created to better understand how natural environments create habitable conditions for human sustainability.  It is a unique facility that can be used to understand the role of life of Earth and the effects of climate change.  Biosphere 2 contains recreations of five of Earth’s biomes, plus a human habitat and a large ecological experiment facility.”

(Reminder: just click on the pictures to enlarge)

We arrived just before noon...in time for the 12:15 guided tour of the interior of the Biosphere 2 structure.  We paid our entrance fee, were given a map and directions to where the tour would begin...it was about a 10 minute walk to the actual biosphere structure entrance.

“With a size comparable to two and a half football fields, it remains the largest closed system ever created. The glass facility is elevated nearly 4,000 feet above sea level at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains, about a half hour outside of Tucson.  The sealed nature of the structure allowed scientists to monitor 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.

Biosphere 2 contained representative biomes: a 1,900 square meter rainforest, an 850 square meter ocean with a coral reef, a 450 square meter mangrove wetlands, a 1,300 square meter savannah grassland, a 1,400 square meter fog desert, a 2,500 square meter agricultural system, a human habitat, and a below-ground level technical infrastructure.  Heating and cooling water circulated through independent piping systems and passive solar input through the glass space frame panels covering most of the facility, and electrical power was supplied into Biosphere 2 from an onsite natural gas energy center through airtight penetrations.”  That tall dome is the library and the dome on the right is the "lung"...

The first closed mission lasted from September 26, 1991 to September 26, 1993 with a crew of eight.  The agricultural system produced 83% of the total diet, which included a wide variety of crops including bananas, papayas, sweet potatoes, beets, peanuts, lablab and cowpea beans, rice, and wheat.  No toxic chemicals could be used, since they would quickly impact health.  During the first year the eight inhabitants reported continual hunger.  During the second year, the crew produced over a ton more food, average caloric intake increased, and they regained some weight lost during the first year.  With eight individuals in close quarters for 2 years, I guess personalities clashed...they were not on very good terms by the time they left the biosphere.  The University of Arizona took over full ownership of  Biosphere 2 on July 1, 2011.

Now for some pictures taken inside...

Jungle...

Biosphere Ocean...

Judy, our tour guide...

Aquatic bug research pools...

Fog Desert...

The basement area of Biosphere 2, known as the Technosphere, covers nearly 3.14 acrea. It is where all the electrical, plumbing, and mechanical systems are housed.  We were taken down there on the tour and then we went through a tunnel into the "lung"...

Water storage inside the lung for firefighting...

The rubberized roof of the lung dome moves up & down so that the Bioshere doesn't explode/implode with temp & pressure changes...notice how far up the legs are off the ground...

The building with the five arched segments and three towers is the Energy Center complex. The Biosphere 2 laboratory requires continuous power to maintain proper conditions for the living organisms inside and for ongoing experiments

After the tour, we were allowed to walk around the exterior of the Biosphere.  We went down into the ocean viewing gallery...

Then we walked up to the Upper Habitat--the former living quarters for those who were sealed inside, it now houses the Command Centre as well as offices, laboratories and classroopms.  This is the kitchen and dining area...

Small apartment with bedroom up the spiral staircase...

Those stairs go up to the library in the dome...

These are Casitas on the walkway to the Biosphere structure...not sure what they are used for...possibly residences?...

And we're done!

It was close to 3:00 by the time we had finished....It had been very interesting!