Environment Control in Gradient Biome

Abstract

Gradient Biome is a large greenhouse (length:200m, width:50m, height:40m) projected in the University of Tokyo, in which the climates along a certain line on the Earth are to be reproduced without barriers, and ecosystems (plants) corresponding to each climate zone are introduced. Since the climates along a specified line on the earth are reproduced with spatially continuous gradient, we call it as Gradient Biome. The main purpose of Gradient Biome is the observation of responses of the introduced ecosystems to expected future global warming. In the present work, we show how the temperature and humidity could be controlled via numerical and experimental studies. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the established control system, the climates along a longitudinal line on the Northern Hemisphere starting from the tropical region in the South-East Asia through to the frigid region in Siberia, and those along a transverse line on the Northern Hemisphere starting from the desert region in Saudi Arabia through Central Asia to Northern Japan were reproduced in a 1/100 scale experimental chamber.