Biosphere 2

 
Biosphere 1 is our earth. Biosphere 2 was built in 1980's as a miniature of earth to learn more about our earth and the environment. It's the largest greenhouse in the world and cost $150 million of private funds to build. The tubular metal frame in the pyramidal shape, and miles of underground pipes, the power plant etc. are an engineering marvel. Tours go through every day. We visited last Sunday after a rare snowstorm on Saturday night. It was beautiful - 4 inches of snow at 4000 ft !

Residental area

 
When eight people lived for two years inside Biosphere 2, they had apartments, group kitchen and a library here. The intent was for them to conduct research, grow their own food and live inside without opening the door for two years. Because there was so much maintenance required, even though they all worked 60 or 70 hours a week to survive, they had no time for the research. That is being done now by Univ of Arizona people who are not living in the closed system.

cactus in the snow!

 
Prickly pears don't have snow on them very often. Cold weather killed quite a few of the last month in Green Valley. We had 3 nights in a row of temps in the teens. Irrigation systems froze and burst too.

jungle

 
My lens steamed up when we entered from outside where the air was cold. There are no animals in this jungle anymore. The plants grow well in the moist, warm climate. All they need to thrive is water, air and sunlight for photosynthesis. There are huge trees in here.

the "ocean"

 
This tank holds 900,000 gallons of seawater! In it are fish, corals and lots of algae. It's a balanced system.

desert biome

 
It's winter now but this place will bloom and become green in a couple of months, just like the Sonoran desert outside.

machinery

 
This is only a small part of the machinery necessary for controlling the climates in the Biosphere.

west lung from outside

 
This is one of two "lungs" used to equalize pressure during the 2 year "closed" period. There is a rubber bladder inside this dome that responds to pressure changes caused by air temperature in the biosphere.

movie of fish

 
No, we weren't snorkeling! We were just looking through the glass at the deep (25ft) end of the "ocean".

cephalopod

 
Part of the great ocean display.

sunset over Santa Rita Mtns

 
This was the view from our house at about 6:15 on Sunday, Feb 27th.

Tucson

 Nothing like sunny Arizona! No snow fwll downtown but there were 8 inches at 8000 ft!

Tucson on Feb 27,2011

Nothing like sunny Arizona!!