Flandrau Public Lecture

UA Geomorphologist Jon Pelletier explains how rock type and climate affect the topography of the Santa Catalina Mountains (including Mt. Lemmon) just north of Tucson, Arizona. The Santa Catalina Mountains one of the many ranges called "Sky Islands" in Arizona because they rise above the desert basins like islands rise above the sea, and host a multitude of plants and animals that cannot survive in the desert.

Jon Pelletier Lecture: Hillslopes and River Channels of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Created by UA Science Flandrau and published on YouTube.

Flandrau Sky Island Exhibit

This project aimed at developing interactive teaching exhibits for K-5 about geology, hydrology, and biology in the Sky Islands of Arizona. This research was completed with the help of Ph.D. candidate Jessica Driscoll and PI Jon Pelletier.

Go to the Flandrau exhibit >

Biosphere 2 and Flandrau Critical Zone Exhibit

Ph.D. candidate Rebecca Lybrand was recently awarded the B2 Science and Society Carson Scholars Fellowship and is developing a short-film on the critical zone and present research sites as part of this opportunity. This fellowship also includes interactive learning opportunities for improving science communication skills as well as presenting current CZO research to program donors and event attendees.

The National CZO program is on display through a new multi-panel exhibit at Biosphere that describes the CZO site locations and objectives.

Over 100,000 visitors tour Biosphere 2 which includes overview presentation of the JSC CZO and the companion Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) experiment. Our partnership provides unique and largely unparalleled opportunities for public education and outreach in a novel settings.

The video created by Shipherd Reed, a Digital Media Producer at the UA Flandrau Science Center, introduces the motivation and science involved in the National Critical Zone Observatory research program.

The Critical Zone Observatories Project, a national scale interdisciplinary science research project funded by the National Science Foundation, delivers innovative science and vital data about our national world that will help society make informed decisions as climate changes and ecosystems shift.

Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum Exhibit

This project is currently being developed by Ph.D. candidate Rebecca Lybrand and PI Craig Rasmussen and will include a desert soil exhibit and presentation material for the museum and local schools. The exhibit aims to enhance public understanding of local soils and interactive aspects of climate, landscape evolution, and soil carbon storage in southern Arizona including information learned from the SCM-CZO sites.

Learn more about the Arizona Desert Museum >