On
Wednesday, I hung around the coach while it and the car got washed and waxed by
a local crew and the girls made a third trip to the Kino Gem Show but this time
they came home with wood tables and lamps purchased from a guy from Estes Park,
CO – I had to make two trips to get all of the stuff plus the girls back home
and not sure where we will put it while traveling.
Thursday
was supposed to be cloudy with chance of rain so we decided it would be a good day to visit the
indoor Biosphere II (B2), which was about a 75 minute drive around the
mountains to Oracle, AZ. As we drove the
two mile road back to B2, I kept expecting it to pop into view but it did not
and during the tour we were told that an area was excavated and the dirt used
to build a berm around it to keep it from view and prying eyes. The pics are a combo of mine and from the web pics.
Following are some excepts from Wikipedia:
"Biosphere
2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle,
Arizona. It has been owned by the University of Arizona since 2011. Its mission
is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning
about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the universe. It is a
3.14-acre structure originally built to be an artificial, materially closed
ecological system, or vivarium. It remains the largest closed system ever
created."
"Biosphere 2 was originally
meant to demonstrate the viability of closed ecological systems to support and
maintain human life in outer space. It
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, though heavily publicized, ran into problems including low
amounts of food and oxygen, die-offs of many animals and plants included in the
experiment."
The experiment
involved 8 people plus animals living in the sealed system for the two year
period and I can remember the publicity on TV.
They
are now performing planet saving experiments such as how the rain forest
reacts to CO2 and temperature and trying to breed a super coral that with
thrive in more acidic ocean waters - I believe they said half of the earth’s coral
has already been lost. They have a rain
forest section.
A
brackish water section to study the importance of mangroves in removing toxins
coming into the ocean from the fresh water.
An
ocean section to study many things including plants, animals, and corals where
they can vary many ocean aspects to see how they react.
A
desert section allows them to study the desert under controlled conditions.
And
a large new experiment called the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO), which
uses 1800 sensors to monitor millions of pounds of abiotic volcanic rock to
track how this nonliving soil slowly develops over several years into a rich
soil which is able to support microbial and vascular plant life. It's inside these three units.
One
of the most fascinating parts was the lung used to maintain pressure inside
B2. As the sun heats up the air inside
the facility, it expands several times in volume which raises the pressure
significantly and could blow out the walls and the same happens in reverse when
it cools which could cause an implosion.
To solve this, they have a giant rubber membrane with a weight hanging on
it and as the pressure inside B2 rises, the bladder expands and raises and when
it cools it shrinks – I thought this was way-cool engineering and we knew what
it was doing by which way the strong wind was blowing as we exited through the
hatch door.
The
tour was well worth the $19/ea. and our tour guide was excellent – if in the area
and you are the least bit interested in the earth’s systems, this is a must
stop.
While
I was tired and my hip was hurting, I managed to make the 1¼ mile walk
including several flights of stairs, but I was sure glad to get back to the
coach and get into a none painful position.
The
only negative to the day was not being able to eat at Chef Alisah’s Restaurant
which I had seen on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. We arrived about 4:15 only to discover that
the Bosian food place was closed between 1:30 & 5:30 and I’m not sure we’ll
be up that way again or be willing to make a 15 mile special trip across town.
Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.
Have
a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.
Larry
2/13-2/14/19
event dates
What a fascinating tour. I would LOVE to see that! Glad you got to go.
ReplyDeleteThat is one very excellent tour glad you enjoyed it, great pictures too.
ReplyDeleteBet this was interesting but it sort of freaks me out. Sorry you missed the restaurant, but it sounds like the girls got some good buys!
ReplyDeleteWow! That looks like a really cool and interesting place to visit. Sorry your hip was hurting you and that you weren't able to eat at the restaurant you were hoping to try.
ReplyDeleteLarry, We never visited the biosphere while we were in Arizona. I don't think that it was open to the public back then. Very interesting though and a great place for an engineer to explore, that's for sure! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
ReplyDeleteThat place looks fantastic! A must visit next time we're there.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't made it there yet but you gave us a great tour. Driving 15 miles across Tucson can be trying.
ReplyDelete