It was a giant glass ark in the middle of the desert, it was a white monstrosity; it was a grand experiment, it was an ignoble failure; it was pure science, it was a tainted fake. Ah, it was all of those things: it was Biosphere 2. In the late 80’s about 30 miles north of Tucson workmen began building a glass and steel structure which covered 3.14 acres (3.14 ?, hmm, interesting) with an astonishing 7,200,000 cubic feet of sealed glass with 6500 windows (don’t ask me to clean them.). It was developed to experiment with self-sustainability. Its 8 inhabitants who stayed for 2 years produced all their own food and oxygen and recycled their own waste. But it was mired in controversy and riddled with bad press from the get-go. And believe it or not, it was pretty difficult for the eight Biospherians to live in the same confined space for two long years without getting on each other's nerves. In fact, when they emerged, they were divided into 2 very distinct camps.
Here’s a cutaway to show how each section fit in. On the left os the fog desert, then the garden with lots of fruit trees, the savanna, the mangrove wetland, the ocean and finally on the right is the rainforest.
It was designed to run 2-year cycles for 100 years but the investors, who expected to make a profit pulled their money 2 months into the second cycle. Columbia University then bought it to run some CO2 and global warming projects and the University of Arizona, the current owner, bought it from them.
We entered through an airlock door and walked down a long corridor.
I expected to see men and women in space suits come around the corner but it was a kindly older woman asking to see our tickets before she let us into the tour room. We watched a short film about the project and then our guide, Tom, took us around the inside of the Biosphere.
When it was planned, it was designed to have 5 different biomes, different environments: a rain forest, a fog desert (a desert near the ocean), a savanna, an ocean and a mangrove wetland. It was kind of like an ark: they scoured the earth for living organisms to put into the Biosphere. There were a few goats for milk,
some hens for eggs, little pigs - yep, they ate pork every now and then. They had all kinds of insects like ants, spiders, bees, worms, grubs and even cockroaches. In fact, the ants are still roaming around and the cockroaches - well, they are hardy. The Biospherians had to wait until dark, get out the vacuum cleaners, turn the lights on suddenly and suck the little critters up about once a month and fed them to the hens. Boy, did those hens produce eggs then.
Our tour covered all of the biomes. We first toured the rainforest.
The trees which were brought in from Central America had to wait out a quarantine period on a concrete slab about 1/4 mile away before they were OK’d to be here. These plants grow so much that they have to be trimmed every year so they don’t push out the glass.
Here’s an orchard: they had an orange tree, a lemon tree an apple tree and several others. Oh, yeah, here’s a coffee tree. It has enough beans on it so that each of the 8 people could have a cup of coffee once every two weeks. I’d be tempted to pull up the fruit trees and plant more coffee trees.
Here’s the ocean.
Now, it doesn’t look very good now but it used to look like a real ocean. When the Biosphere project ended, Columbia University bought the dome and ran CO2 experiments in the ocean. Interestingly, much of what we know about ocean CO2 comes from their experiments. The New Yorker reported, “much of what is known about coral reefs and ocean acidification was originally discovered, improbably enough in Arizona, in the self-enclosed, supposedly self-sufficient world known as Biosphere 2.” Arizona is now in the process of beginning to rejuvenate the ocean but it will take time and money to do so.
The Biospherians had their living quarters in this dome area. We were able to tour their kitchen where they made their own meals. Pretty modern - even had a dishwasher.
They slowly lost weight since they were getting great nutrition from their food but not enough calories. (They needed to make ice cream and candy.) They were actually subsisting on 1750 calories per day and getting a bit cranky.
They lost about 18% of their body weight during the first 6 - 8 months.
We were intrigued about how they could get it all to work and enjoyed the end of the tour through the engineering systems. Here the ‘lung.’
In the hot Arizona climate the air inside the Biosphere would expand during the day and decrease during the cooler nights. This device was designed to take the pressure off the outside glass. During the day it would expand like it is now and the round white circle with legs would head towards the ceiling. At night, the air would get cooler and decrease and the white circle with legs would come down to the cement. Pretty clever.
We walked through tunnels lined with piping, rumbling air handlers which blew our hair every which way, pumps and miles of cable.
The outside glass was sealed so well that less air moved between the outside and the inside than in the space station. It was also specially tinted so that you can’t get a sunburn inside. If it did not have special coating, the plants inside would burn up.
It seems as if they thought of everything - except the cement.
The base of the Biosphere is cement - about 2’ worth of cement. As the Biospherians lived and breathed, slowly they became lethargic and not able to work like they needed to make the Biosphere work. Eventually their air thinned to where it approximated the air at 18,000’. They ran experiments every day and realized that their oxygen supply was dwindling and they eventually had to pump more oxygen into the Biosphere. Of course, this opened them up to ridicule since it proved that it was not sustainable.
After the Biosphere closed they figured out what the problem was: curing cement needs oxygen and the cement base of the Biosphere was depleting their oxygen supply.
The view from inside was of the Catalina Mts. Pretty spectacular.
So, was it a failure or a success? Well, both. Even failures can be great successes. Learning comes with both. 150 major papers have been written using information from the Biosphere. The University of Arizona has attained a world wide reputation with its experiments in plants grown in a desert. The Columbia experiments added a wealth of knowledge about CO2 in the oceans. Much was learned about how individuals operated in a group. Much was learned about global warming. Much was learned about sustainability. And, don’t forget the cement: let it cure before using.
We walked around some more, ate some trail mix at a picnic table in the shade (oh, yeah, I left our lunch in the cooler bag in the refrigerator) and headed out. A sandwich at Panera, a stop for a haircut for me, a walk in a local mall to avoid the walking in 96 degrees and then home.
Very interesting project and very good tour. We had heard about Biosphere 2 but, living in the Minneapolis, hadn’t really heard much. We know much more now.
‘A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.’
Anonymous
Danny, being a "quizzer" told me a Belgian Engineer, Mark Van Thillo, also took part in this experiment. Must indeed have been a very interesting tour!. Now I hope I manage to post this comment - I'll cross my fingers and toes.
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