Biosphere 2

The Biosphere 2 facility in Arizona is proving to be an important tool in understanding global climate change.

Over the past 15 years, experiments conducted at Biosphere 2 by researchers from Columbia University and the University of Arizona have helped shape scientific understanding of how climate change will affect the planet. Biosphere 2 was built by Space Biospheres Ventures in the late 1980s at a cost of $200 million. The concept was to create a sustainable ecosystem entirely sealed off from the outside world. No longer a sealed-off environment, Biosphere 2 now offers guided tours. Inside 7.2 million cubic feet of sealed glass, several artificial environments were created, from desert to rain forest to a coral reef. Spanning 3.14 acres -- the size of several football fields -- the scale of the facility, which is about 25 minutes north of Tucson, was unprecedented.

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Travel & Events

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• biosphere
• Tucson

[ss11s]

It started as sort of a weird project that had little to do with science. Fortunately these extraordinary facilities have evolved into an actual real deal science facility. There are very serious very real scientific experiments happening there now as opposed to the 1990's (when it was more of a performance art piece- which also has a sort of non-scientific value).

[deoxy999]

I went to the biosphere to have a tour.

[jdris919]

First viewer, awesome. I worked here over the summer, it is incredible.