Biosphere 2

Tuesday, December 23

Today we decided to go to the Biosphere 2 which now is run by the University of Arizona. 
Biosphere 2 is nestled in the foothills of Arizona's Santa Catalina Mountains about 30 miles north of Tucson.  It is named 2 because the Earth is biosphere number 1.

Biosphere 2 is an Earth systems science research facility. It has been owned by the University of Arizona since 2011. This science center offers tours of a rainforest & ocean in a 3-acre greenhouse.  

This is what we saw as we walked from the visitors center.  

Can you see how the plants have grown to the glass sides. 

This is one view in the rain forest looking to the top.

 The rain forest was amazing.  I'm not sure if these are roots from vines or what.

This is the "ocean".  It varied from 3 ft to 25 ft deep.  Waves were created at the deep end.  It was noisy.

This is our walk from the ocean to the forest--not the rain forest.

Then we went from the forest to the desert.  Look at this beautiful bloom on this yucca.

This is one of the 2 lungs that provided oxygen when the Biosphere was sealed.  The black is rubber. They demonstrated how air caused the rubber to expand and contract.

We came out of the Biosphere 2 on the back side. Look how the plants have grown almost to the top of the taller building.

This was the common eating area.  The kitchen is in the background.

This is a closer look of the kitchen.  They ate only the food that was grown inside.  They had a few animals so they had meat once a week.
There is no way I could have stayed sealed in this facility for 2 years.  I think I would have gone crazy.

This is a current research study on growing plants in the space station.  There is still a lot of research going on here.  Interesting tour.