It was 1984 when a private organization named
Space Biosphere Adventures, headed
and funded by billionaire Edward Bass, designed Biosphere 2 (Bio2). Located just north of Tucson in Oracle,
Arizona, Bio2 represents the world’s largest earth science experiment. At a
cost of $150 Million dollars, construction would take 3 years, cover 3.14 acres
and house structures reaching 9 stories in height.
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Entrance to Biosphere 2
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Aerial view of Biosphere 2 Photo: Public Domain
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Of course my first question was “Is there a Biosphere 1?” When
presented to John Adams, Director of Bio2, his answer was simply “Biosphere 1 is the
earth”.
Tickets to Bio2 can be purchased online.
On the day of my visit they were offering a
limited number of tickets per day and once that limit is reached you would
have to select another day. Prior to
arriving, or before starting the tour, you will want to download the Biosphere 2 Experience App. The app features photos and videos compiled
from the 30-year history of Bio2, as well as a self-guided tour of the complex.
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Entrance to Biosphere 2
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In June 1994, the
managing company, Space Biosphere
Ventures, was dissolved and the facility was left in limbo. Columbia
University assumed management of the facility in 1995 and used it to run
experiments until 2003. It then appeared in danger of being demolished to make
way for housing and retail stores, but in 2007 was taken over for research by
the University of Arizona. The University of Arizona took full ownership of the
structure in 2011.
You will navigate the tour in a
safe, socially distanced, one-way path around the exterior. I somewhat felt like Dorothy from The Wizard
of Oz. Although not a yellow brick road,
I followed colored directional arrows around the complex stopping at various
numbered locations to listen to the online guide describe what I was
viewing. Once you complete the exterior
tour you will be able to enter into the reopened portions of the interior of
Bio 2.
As a completely closed self-sufficient
structure, Bio2 consists of three main sections: an aboveground airtight
glass-enclosed area, a belowground technology area known as the Technosphere,
and an area designated as a human habitat.
The main
aboveground structure is made of nearly 7.2 million cubic feet of sealed glass
supported by steel frames and is 91 feet at its highest point. The main portion
of the glass structure is rectangular and has ends resembling pyramids.
Its seven
biome areas consist of a 20,000 square foot (SF) rainforest, a 9,100 SF
ocean with a coral reef, a 4,800 SF mangrove wetland, a 14,000 SF savannah
grassland, a 15,000 SF fog desert, and two anthropogenic biomes: a 27,000 SF agricultural system and a human habitat with living
spaces, laboratories and workshops.
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Desert biome
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Desert biome
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| Desert biome |
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Desert biome
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Desert biome
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| Rainforest biome |
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| Rainforest biome |
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| Rainforest biome |
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| Ocean biome |
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| Ocean biome |
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| Ocean biome |
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Mangrove biome
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Mangrove biome
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Mangrove biome
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The rainforest and desert ecosystems are
separated from the other ecosystems by lightweight plastic curtains. Connected
to the main biome area by a walkway are three rounded glass
enclosures housing the agricultural area.
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| Habitats in white / glass agricultural domes |
The belowground Technosphere supports
the 3.14 acre facility and contains the technology that runs and maintains the
entire Bio2 environment. Among the
Technosphere components are more than two dozen air-handler units that control
air temperature and humidity in Bio2, allowing for cooling, heating,
condensation, and dehumidification. The Energy Center also provides hot and
cold water for temperature regulation and houses generators that serve as an
additional power source for Bio2.
On the south and west sides of Bio2 sit two
large aboveground geodesic domes that contain the biosphere’s “lungs”. These are huge variable-expansion chambers
that regulate air pressure inside the glass enclosure. Each lung is connected
to the biosphere by a tunnel and consists of a heavy metal plate attached to a rubber
membrane. As external temperatures rise and fall, air remains trapped in the
biosphere or is released from it. The release of air dissipates pressure that
may exceed the strength of the glass. Below the south lung lies a 200,000 gallon
tank for the collection of water from condensation within the biosphere.
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| Outside of Lung |
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| Inside the Lung building |
The survivability missions in Bio2 began on
September 26, 1991, when four men and four women, referred to as “Biospherians”
(individuals trained to perform specific tasks during the mission), were sealed
inside the glass biome for a projected 2 year period.
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| Habitat building |
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| Habitat Building |
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Entrance to Habitat Building
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Agricultural tasks
occupied much of their daily routine, since they were expected to produce their
own food, which included vegetables and grains from plants grown in soil beds;
meat, eggs, and milk from farm animals; and fish raised in aquaculture beds.
The crew kept detailed records on their agricultural production and atmospheric
conditions. Within several months of entering the indoor atmosphere however,
the Biospherians detected a decrease in their oxygen levels and an increase in
carbon dioxide. At the start of the
mission the indoor atmosphere consisted of 20.9 percent oxygen. Seventeen
months later, oxygen levels had dropped to 14.2 percent. Unable to identify the
cause, officials decided to inject oxygen into the facility on at least two
occasions, and the lungs were opened daily to allow inflow of air from the
external environment. This decision was heavily criticized in the public eye because
of the impossibility of such a rescue for a self-sustaining colony in space.
Adding to the oxygen problem, plant and
animal die offs quickly hamstrained the Biospherians making it impossible for
them to produce enough food to sustain their lives. With the mission aborted after 17 months
some called it a total failure. John
Adams, now Director of Bio2, called it “A lesson on how little we truly
understood earths system”.
Biosphere 2
was only used twice for its original intended purposes as a closed-system
experiment: once from 1991 to 1993, and the second time from March to September
1994. Both attempts ran into problems including low amounts of food and oxygen,
die-offs of many animals and plants, group dynamic tensions among the resident
crew, outside politics and a power struggle over management and direction of
the project. Nevertheless, the closure experiments set world records in closed
ecological systems, agricultural production, health improvements with the high
nutrient and low caloric diet the crew followed, and insights into the
self-organization of complex biomic systems and atmospheric dynamics. The second closure experiment achieved total
food sufficiency and did not require injections of oxygen.
Any visit to
Tucson, Arizona should include a tour of Biosphere 2.
