Biosphere 2 is a world-renowned environmental and ecological research site operated by the University of Arizona, and located near Oracle, a small town approximately 15 miles North from the Oro Valley Hotel & Suites.
The name comes from Earth’s biosphere, Biosphere 1, Earth's life system and the only biosphere currently known.
Completed in 1991, it was designed so that scientists could study the complex interaction between natural life systems, including plant, animal and human, in a closed environment over an extended period of time.
Researchers also wanted to use Biosphere 2 as a place to conduct studies to evaluate the challenges and risks of closed systems in possible future space colonization efforts.
The interior portion of Biosphere 2 was opened to the public in the spring of 2002, and the University of Arizona offers guided tours of the facility.
The tour begins in the human habitat, where the original Biospherians lived, continues to the small farm where they grew crops, and then to the wilderness areas with desert, savanna, tropical rainforest and ocean environments.
Project:
Biosphere 2 is a new type of laboratory which combines state-of-the-art architecture and mechanical and computer monitoring systems with a wide range of living ecosystems. It is an experimental project where everything that happens - both expected and unexpected - provides valuable insights into our complex and evolving world.
While the biospherians further the research of more than 60 projects, 42 Ph. D.-level scientists are formally analyzing the information gathered inside Biosphere 2, as they study such topics as carbon dioxide and oxygen cycles, soil composition, coral reef health and vitality, agricultural pest management, waste and water recycling and more. Every two weeks, the biospherians send the samples they have collected through the airlock to scientific consultants and analytic laboratories for study.
