Lab trip to Biosphere 2, Arizona

Lab Trip

On Sunday, Anna, Chris, Jaivime and Willemijn flew to Arizona to begin a two-week stay at the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 facility. We’re teaming up with Peter Troch and colleagues to run some experiments on their recently constructed Landscape Evolution Observatory – a collection of three artificial 360 m2 hillslopes. The facility is offering a great opportunity for us to explore some common research questions concerning the potential importance of the capillary fringe and near-stream groundwater ridging in the delivery of large volumes of old, pre-event water to streams.

We’ll be posting regular updates on the experiments, as well as lab gatherings with recent graduates (Luke and Cody) and others. Keep an eye out!

Arizona-bound at the airport!
Arizona-bound at the airport!

The Biosphere 2 facility

One of the three LEO hillslopes (with cups measuring the spatial variability in simulated rainfall)
One of the three LEO hillslopes (with cups measuring the spatial variability in simulated rainfall)

Getting a tour of the underside of the hillslopes and all of the installed sensors and equipment
Getting a tour of the underside of the hillslopes and all of the installed sensors and equipment