|
Cross section of RERAF. Large picture
The RERAF building is designed with a central control unit with two wings, east and west, each containing a row of chamber units. The chambers face north protected from direct sunlight and the associated support laboratories face south. Each chamber has a floor area of 4 x 6 m designed to accommodate 12 m2 ecosystems or bench area overlaying a 4 m deep separate soil compartment.
Growth chamber building at night time. Large picture
Experimental conditions can be controlled in the root compartments independently of conditions in the growth chambers. Each root compartment can be equipped with lysimeters with artificial soil profiles or soil monoliths for experiments either with or without plants. If feasible, large aquariums can be installed in the root compartments.
The hardware and software utilized in RERAF is in general commercially available. However, some features have been specially designed for this facility. The top of the chambers is shielded with a double layer of evacuated high quality low ion content quartz glass with very high transmissivity over a wide spectrum. The wall between two adjacent chambers can be removed to allow larger experimental ecosystems to be established on a floor area of 48 m2 . Toxic building materials have been avoided.
Sewage and any spilled water in the facility is collected in deposit tanks in the basement to secure proper treatment and disposal. In case of fire, all water used for fire fighting or water from a water pipe leak will flood the basement where all gutters are secured to one meter submersion in order to avoid environmental contamination with radioisotopes, transgenic organisms or hazardous chemicals.
RERAF allows scientists to construct and run replicate experiments with model ecosystems for many months to several years under controlled environmental conditions. |