CONTACT: Gene Giacomelli
giacomel@ag.arizona.edu
Fresh produce doesn't come to mind when
you hear the word "Antarctica." Researchers living there usually eat
packaged food year round indoors. They can suffer from seasonal affective
disorder (SAD), a health malaise brought on by a lack of full spectrum
natural light, and they long for the sight, taste and touch of plant life
in the most isolated place on earth. They've also learned that having
access to plants can raise morale and increase productivity.
For
these reasons, personnel based at the new Amundsen-Scott research station
at the South Pole will be growing and harvesting their own salad
vegetables by 2004 in a special high-technology facility designed, built
and tested by the University of Arizona. Scientists from the Controlled
Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) in the College of Agriculture and
Life Sciences are collaborating on the project with Phil Sadler, of Sadler
Machine Company in Tempe, Arizona.
"The main purpose for including
the food growth chamber in the new station is the psychological effect
that it has on the station personnel," says Gene Giacomelli, UA professor
of agricultural and biosystems engineering, and director of the Controlled
Environment Agriculture program at the UA. "They are totally isolated in a
frozen, 9,000-foot elevation desert of snow, 800 miles from the coast of
Antarctica, where temperatures can reach lows of minus 118 degrees
Fahrenheit. For seven to eight months of the year, temperatures are so low
that aircraft cannot land and no one can come or go."
The
self-contained unit will feature a food growth chamber equipped for
raising leafy greens and fruiting vegetable crops hydroponically,
separated by a transparent wall from a sitting room where researchers can
relax and enjoy the sight of lush green plants. Lettuce, herbs, tomatoes,
cucumbers, and sweet and hot peppers will be grown in a recirculating
nutrient solution. Automated controls for air temperature, light,
humidity, watering and nutrients will enable researchers to raise and eat
their vegetables year-round.
The chamber is part of a new South
Pole research station that will be officially commissioned in 2004 by the
National Science Foundation (NSF), which directs activities of the United
States Antarctic Program. The NSF is constructing a replacement for the
existing station with the assistance of its civilian contractor, Raytheon
Polar Services Company (RPSC). The South Pole Food Growth Chamber Project
was initiated by the NSF, which RPSC competitively bid, and the UA
ultimately won. The UA must build and deliver an operable unit to the
South Pole and provide training for RPSC engineers who will be managing
it.
Not only does the team want a diet they are accustomed to that
includes fresh salads, they also need the visual and sensory stimulation
offered by green plants, which are absent at the South Pole. The 20 by 30
foot chamber will give them the chance to see, feel and smell vegetable
and herb plants year-round, but also provide them with a bright
environment of enhanced spectrum lighting, according to Giacomelli. The
crop yields will be adjusted to the size of the current station
population, which will include 200 people during the Antarctic's 3-month
summer, and 30-40 people the remainder of the year.
The UA is no
stranger to development of food production facilities within
environmentally hostile areas, according to Giacomelli. In the early 1970s
controlled environment vegetable production greenhouses were successfully
operated by the university in the deserts of the Middle East and northern
Mexico using technological advances in horticulture and engineering. In
Antarctica, the UA is combining its innovations in hydroponic food
production and controlled environment agriculture with the engineering and
manufacturing abilities of Sadler Machine Company.
The design of
the sitting room in particular was based on the suggestions and experience
of Phil Sadler, a former Antarctic construction worker and current
designer of controlled environment facilities, together with Raytheon and
other government engineers, scientists and technicians. By having a room
with a big window where people can sit and look at growing plants while
they play cards or socialize, Giacomelli says, they'll be able to
experience the healthy effects of being around growing plants in a lighted
environment that helps them flourish. Aside from the intensive hydroponic
crops in the food growth chamber, station personnel will also have the
opportunity to assist in caring for other plants in the sitting area.
Sadler's expertise as a former biologist and current engineer and
manufacturer, coupled with his experience in Antarctica, make him a
natural partner with the UA on the project, Giacomelli notes. "Phil's got
the experience ‘on the ice' because he has lived and worked at the pole,
and he built the first successful food growth chambers and greenhouse in
Antarctica. He can build top quality, long lasting and capable equipment
to furnish the food growth chamber," Giacomelli says. The current project
will be the first officially commissioned food growth chamber for the NSF,
replacing a small test greenhouse that proved successful.
"The
lighting source he has designed–a water-cooled lamp–is of particular
value. Phil makes lamps that are more than 10 times as powerful as a
40-watt light bulb, but are so cool you can touch them with your hand," he
says. "They are practical to use in the confined space of a growth chamber
where plants can get close to them and not be damaged by excessive heat."
The ultimate goal of the food growth chamber is to provide a
better quality of life for researchers who live and work at the South
Pole, and to help others understand how people can adapt to living in
seclusion without seeing the sun for months on end.
"For five and
a half months there is no sunshine, just total darkness," Giacomelli says.
"The benefit is not only for fresh food at that time, but also for the
high intensity light that mimics the sun, the high humidity, the aromas
and flavors, that remind us that we're alive and that we enjoy eating.
Psychologically it's very important."
Writer: Susan McGinley
520.621.7182 mcginley@ag.arizona.edu
Susan McGinley, Science Writer
Educational Communications and
Technologies (ECAT) College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
The
University of Arizona Forbes - 134 PO Box 210036 Tucson, AZ 85721-0036
Telephone 520.621.7182 - Fax
520.626.8688
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