1. The Hills are Alive: Building an Interdisciplinary Earth Science Research Facility at Biosphere 2 INQUIRY B2 Institute To Tackle Scientific Grand Challenges RESEARCH & DISCOVERY B2 Earthscience To Address Global Environmental Change EDUCATION & OUTREACH Biosphere 2 To Serve Arizona and the Public At Large Peter Troch – University of Arizona

2. Design of the Institutional Experiment A Biosphere2-Hydrologic Synthesis co-production EarthScience Experimental Facility

3.  Three bays available for institutional experiment  Precise climate and mass balance control Hydrologic, biogeochemical, geomorphologic, ecologic interactions Intermediate spatial scale (30mx15m) Both event-based and long-term (10 years) observations

4. EarthScience Experimental Facility  Three bays available for institutional experiment  Precise climate and mass balance control Hydrologic, biogeochemical, geomorphologic, ecologic interactions Intermediate spatial scale (30mx15m) Both event-based and long-term (10 years) observations

5. Our Conceptual Model Biosphere 2 Hillslope hydrology Microbial and plant colonization Biogeo-weathering & ecosystem dynamics Surface/subsurface water flow paths & connectivity Huxman et al., EOS, 2009

6. Engineering Design

9. Breaking ground…

11. Fully vegetated (1996-2007) Mean root moisture STD of root moisture Mean ANPP Ivanov et al., in prep.

12. CV vs mean SM: Bare soil – Vegetated Ivanov et al., in prep.

13. Controls of spatial SM variability Initial state #2 Transition of the dominant factors that contribute to soil water heterogeneity Subsurface flow dominates Evapotranspiration dominates Capillarity and evapotranspiration Ivanov et al., in prep.

14. Thanks for your attention! QUESTIONS?