1. 1
The Desert Sea
at Biosphere 2
A Vision Portfolio
Rafe Sagarin, Program Director, Biosphere 2 Ocean
Bobby Long

2. 2 University of Arizona
The Desert Sea Connection
It might not seem like deserts and seas are connected, but the linkages between them are vital as the world’s
population increasingly relies on ocean resources and the world’s lands become increasingly arid. The Sonoran
Desert of the southwest United States owes its amazing biological and cultural diversity in no small part to its
proximity to the rich waters of the Gulf of California, yet most visitors to this incredible region have little notion
of the strong connection between desert and sea.
Biosphere 2, an ecosystem research and science outreach facility in Arizona, houses an enormous 676,000‑
gallon saltwater ocean tank. The Biosphere 2 ocean was originally a richly populated coral reef with dozens
of species of live corals, fish and invertebrates. But by the time the University of Arizona took ownership of
Biosphere 2 many years after the original sealed missions, the ocean had degraded, with few living animals and
heavy growth of nuisance algae. It is currently underutilized for research, outreach, and teaching.
Transforming
Biosphere2’s ocean
into the Desert Sea.
The Biosphere 2 Ocean

3. 3
A vision for Biosphere 2...We are seeking your support to help transform the Biosphere 2 ocean into a “Desert Sea”—a living model of the
Gulf of California—that will highlight the rich ecology, diverse human cultures, and conservation challenges that
are concentrated in this unique marine environment. The Desert Sea will look like the Gulf—where the desert
and the sea connect—with cactus-studded islands, rocky shorelines and tidepools, and a rich sargassum forest in
its 21-foot-deep open water zone.
These habitats will become home to a diverse range of the amazing living creatures of the Gulf. Taken together,
the Desert Sea will be a whole new way of studying, teaching, and sharing marine science with people who may
live far from the sea.
The Desert Sea

4. 4 University of Arizona
Biosphere 2 is unique for its
combination of both large
spaces to house complex
ecosystems and the laboratory
controls required for research.
The kinds of research we
conduct at Biosphere 2 cannot
be done anywhere else.

5. 5
The Desert Sea will be an
unparalleled site for science.
We plan to activate the full potential of the ocean system at Biosphere 2 to tackle the most pressing challenges
in marine science and conservation. No other place on Earth has the capacity to conduct controlled laboratory
research amidst the complexity of nature. This capacity allows us to plan the Desert Sea around an ambitious
central research question:
How does biological diversity and complexity develop,
and is it resilient to human-related environmental change?
We will start to address this question at the smallest scales of life, by using cutting-edge genomic technologies
to characterize the microbial world of a simple marine system. We will then build biological complexity through
deliberate additions of Gulf of California species representing different functional parts of marine food webs.
As each new element of the system begins to interact with and adapt to the others, we will begin to answer
questions that have long eluded laboratory and field biologists about what sustains and enhances biological
diversity. Ultimately, with the space and habitats to include a wide range of interacting marine species, we
can test the effects of large-scale global changes like ocean warming and acidification, as well as intense local
pressures like overfishing and coastal pollution, on marine environments.
The unique combination of control and complexity also makes the Desert Sea an ideal location for marine
technology testing. From remote submarines built by science classes to crowdsourced innovations on how to
reduce destructive by-catch in fishing gear, technologies can be prototyped, tested, and refined in the real world
conditions of the Biosphere 2’s ocean without the risk, expense, and logistical difficulties of testing in the actual
ocean. Many of these technologies, such as autonomous environmental sensors, will immediately be put to use
gathering data for the research activities in the Desert Sea, creating an integrated and adaptive environmental
research and development platform.

6. 6 University of Arizona
Your journey to the
When you enter
Biosphere 2
you will travel
new, accessible
pathways across
an open, airy fog
desert.
You’ll go down
through a thick
mangrove forest
and wetland,
before emerging
on a perch above
the deep pelagic
zone of the
Desert Sea.
The Desert Sea will invite visitors and scientists to get
closer, deeper, and further into the incredible wilderness
habitats of Biosphere 2 than ever before.
6

7. 7
Desert Sea...
Then you’ll
traverse along
a rocky cliff
wall just a few
feet above
the sea for an
unprecedented
view of our
marine life.
The path turns
down to the
rocky shoreline
and tide pools,
before exiting
the Biosphere 2
building.
The path heads
underground
to our
Ocean Gallery,
which features
three large
underwater
viewing
windows.
7

8. 8 University of Arizona
The mission of the Desert Sea is to conduct research
while educating and inspiring people about the ecological and
cultural connections between the ocean and arid lands.
The Desert Sea will be an
unparalleled site for STEM
education.
Science is alive at Biosphere 2, in full view of our 100,000 annual visitors. Unlike an aquarium, which displays
spectacular fish with science somewhere in the background, our Desert Sea will display amazing science with
spectacular fish as part of a complete science outreach experience. Few other facilities balance cutting edge
scientific research, compelling visitor outreach, and substantive STEM education opportunities, as we do at
Biosphere 2.
School groups and our Summer Science Academy will become integrated with our scientific work; conducting
hands-on research in what, for many, will be their first exposure to a marine environment. Public visitors will be
able to see this research in action, from above and below the water line, and will be encouraged to talk with the
scientists themselves as they conduct their research.
Outreach and teaching will continue under the waves because our ocean is a certified open water scuba dive
site. With the transformation to the Desert Sea, we will create a challenging and compelling space for many
types of advanced dive training including search and rescue, high altitude, and scientific research diving.

9. 9
We’re already
making waves!New Life for the Biosphere 2 Ocean
The University of Arizona hired marine ecologist Dr. Rafe Sagarin as the Program Director for the Desert Sea
project to develop the plans for a new ocean biome in Biosphere 2. Dr. Sagarin has extensive experience
organizing multi‑disciplinary groups to tackle tough scientific challenges. He has assembled a “dream team” of
Gulf naturalists, ecosystem scientists, aquarium experts, technicians, artists, marine educators, and museum
designers that will help guide our path along each step of the process.
With seed funding from private donors and the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, we have run a series
of “design charrettes” to creatively address the architectural, engineering, animal care, visitor experience,
and scientific research opportunities that arise from our Desert Sea project. Now we are ready to draw up
construction plans and get to work building the Desert Sea.
A Marine Biologist in the Desert?
“People always laugh when I tell them that I’m a marine biologist who lives in Tucson, until I tell them that
some of the most fascinating ocean habitats in the world are right down the road from me… Then they want
to learn more about the Gulf of California.” Dr. Rafe Sagarin Program Director, Biosphere 2 Ocean

10. 10 University of Arizona
The Desert Sea is a big,
audaciousproject—exactlywhat
Biosphere 2 was built for.
Big Plans
The University of Arizona is the number one Environmental Science research university in the United States.
We view the Desert Sea as a flagship project to build off this tradition of excellence. The Desert Sea project
will also become a major component of an effort to make southern Arizona a hub of “geotourism,” featuring
the region’s world‑class telescopes, stunning Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and Flandrau Science Center.
Our project will extend across the border as it will foster strong bi‑national collaboration with scientists,
conservationists, students, and educators in Mexico.
We expect the construction of the Desert Sea to be a multi‑million dollar project that will accrue additional
operational costs for new staffing, husbandry, and maintenance. Our expected costs (detailed estimates
available upon request) are well within the scope of similarly sized ocean tank renovations conducted at the
Monterey Bay Aquarium and New England Aquarium. Our project can be developed in stages, from initial
restoration and refitting of the ocean tank, to restorations of the adjoining mangrove habitat, to construction of
fully accessible pathways and new points of access for our visitors.
Big Benefits
We expect initial costs to be partially offset by new revenues that will accrue directly from the Desert Sea
project, including:
Increased visitation and increased return visitation
Lab use fees and scuba training use fees
Increased use of Biosphere 2 conference facilities
We expect these new sources of revenue to be significant and to contribute directly to our research activities.
Nonetheless, we believe the most important benefit of this project is that we will pioneer a fully integrated
model of scientific research, education and public outreach, where visitors, school children, and scientists are all
part of the same journey of discovering and understanding the Desert Sea.
Biosphere 2’s
original design
scaled small glass
“ecospheres”
up to the size
of a 3.14‑acre
greenhouse—
massively
changing the
scale of sealed
ecosystem
science.
• Overhead from increased grant‑funded research
• Gift shop sales
•
•
•

11. 11
There’s only one Biosphere 2...
and there’s only one Desert Sea.
Deserts and seas are becoming vital to our efforts to adapt and thrive on a changing planet.
Our Desert Sea project is the first of its kind dedicated to understanding this interface and sharing it
in the same engaging space where the research is conducted.
The Desert Sea is a transformative project with potential to bring the story of the Gulf of California—
its connection to the desert and to our future—to a far wider audience than ever before. Join us in turning this
vision into reality. Please support the Desert Sea project with a contribution today. Your gift will help build an
ocean, share it, and work toward a more knowledgeable and healthy aquatic future.
Ask Rafe
Dr. Rafe Sagarin, Program Director, Biosphere 2 Ocean,
would be happy to answer your questions or provide
you with a behind-the-scenes tour.
University of Arizona
Biosphere 2
845 N. Park Avenue, Room 526
Tucson, AZ 85721
Phone: 520-838-6133
Email: rafe@email.arizona.edu

12. 12 University of Arizona
32540 S. Biosphere Road
Oracle Arizona 85623
Phone: 520-626-4092
Website: www.Biosphere2.org