Biosphere 2

Now Lee and I have been before and had a fantastic tour then... three hours long and very informative.. this time around there were many changes...

First off there was a another storm or maybe the same one that poured on all of all night long.. so it was stormy and wet everywhere.

But this was an indoor activity so all is good.

This is an amazing place that belongs wholly to the University of Arizona now and many of the original experiment are long gone.. 8 people went into this biosphere in 1991 for a duration of two years to see if live could in fact be sustained in this biosphere. It is now called the Glorious Debacle. Many things were a success, and many were not. Today they have a few of the original Orchard plants left. Coffee tree, Bananas and a apple tree and they are the originals no nutrients are given them. They grow or die as the cycle dictates.

In the biosphere they had alpine, desert, grasslands and ocean environments.. the ocean and a bit of the desert, the place where the animals was is gone.. science experiments with soil and plants is now going on. The have a fabulous(according to our guide) new project called Leo.. and it is taking volcanic rock and making soil out of it.. apparently the scientific world is a buzz with excitement as they are gearing towards life on other planets one day.
Many of the places e had been on a previous tour were not included in this one so we had so much to learn all over again. Our tour guide Tina was a hyper active bouncy always moving animated speaker.. and while it was entertaining it was also very annoying.Absolutely no one asked any questions and there were scientific minds among us!

The ocean and it now going to be used by a famous scientist in another country half way across the globe as her remote lab... there are 25 accounted for species of creatures left from the original experiment in these waters and apparently on the days off during the 2 year stay some of the residents would climb on the scaffolding and dive into this ocean..

In the desert there are present day experiments going on with volcanic rocks.. and in the are is a BooJum tree.. native to Mexico  and Madagascar( so we were told)

OK now there was so much more  but it is all very technical and after going up and down so many stairs and cement ones at that my knees are telling me they are not at all happy anymore!!!
So I will say we continued into the LUNG... and this is where the air was controlled. It is by far the most exciting part of the tour.. and it moves and has an amazing echo chamber.. no pics here as they are on my phone!

We ended the official tour in the kitchen which has been left entirely as it was in 1991.. hard to believe that was so long ago. This is a fabulous facility and one no one should miss lout on seeing if ever in the area.
We stopped in the cafe for a wee sit down and drink and watched as a Javelina routed around for snacks! Good thing as there were bow hunters out looking for them!

And so ended a tour of a world class science facility and I sincerely hope you enjoyed this one.. because we definitely did.

 

 

Thank you so very much for joining us in the wonderful world of Science and Biosphere 2!
We enjoyed having you with us again.. and look forward to you joining us for other adventures.
Peace