While visiting my parents in Tuscon, Arizona our family went to visit the Kartchner Caverns. These caverns were discovered by two spelunkers in the 70's and was kept under secret for 14 years before they were able to successfully turn it over to Arizona State Park system. What we found amazing is how long these stalagtites, stalagmites and soda straws take to form...hundreds of thousands of years and here they were in front of us in well maintained live cave. What we found amazing is that fast dripping water develops stalagmites and slow dripping water develops stalagtites and soda straws.
Meanwhile the humidity inside the cave was 90% while it was in the balmy 70's. Now enter the use of lights. Yes, caves are normally pitch black so the images that we were able to view were all being lit by incandescent lights, which add to the heat of the cave environment. The caverns even won a lighting award in 2000 from the Illumination engineering society. The good news is everything is on dimmers and is lit as the tour guides walk through the space so that dimming system was quite the feat. Now all I think about is, let's get the LED bulbs and linears lamps into the mix so we can reduce the heat load as well as the energy used. I highly recommend if you are anywhere near Tuscon, AZ from the months of Oct 15th to April 15th to take a tour of the great room or the throne room at the Kartchner Caverns...worth the effort and time.
Meanwhile the humidity inside the cave was 90% while it was in the balmy 70's. Now enter the use of lights. Yes, caves are normally pitch black so the images that we were able to view were all being lit by incandescent lights, which add to the heat of the cave environment. The caverns even won a lighting award in 2000 from the Illumination engineering society. The good news is everything is on dimmers and is lit as the tour guides walk through the space so that dimming system was quite the feat. Now all I think about is, let's get the LED bulbs and linears lamps into the mix so we can reduce the heat load as well as the energy used. I highly recommend if you are anywhere near Tuscon, AZ from the months of Oct 15th to April 15th to take a tour of the great room or the throne room at the Kartchner Caverns...worth the effort and time.
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