Hidden 400 feet in a mountain on a remote island near the North Pole, the doomsday vault storing crop seeds of the world is in danger from melting permafrost of a warming planet.
The vault which stores valuable seeds from crops all over the world is a resource planned to come to mankind’s rescue if because of disaster, climate change, or nuclear war, parts of the earth are impacted with widespread environmental devastation.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is supposed to be protected and stay at a safe temperature to store all those seeds due to its location.
But extreme rising temperatures in the Arctic this past winter combined with heavy rain instead of snow led to melting permafrost that gushed into the tunnel leading into the vault, raising questions about whether the doomsday vault will survive a warming planet.
So far, there are almost 1 million samples of food crops in the vault, collected since Svalbard opened in 2008. Each sample contains 500 seeds.
It’s more than 400 feet above sea level, and there’s little moisture in the air, but the Arctic is warming far faster than the rest of the world — faster than anyone expected.
The temperature inside is kept at -18 degrees Celsius: cold enough to keep the sealed seeds viable for thousands of years in some cases. But no one knows what would happen if the vault were to flood because of melting permafrost.
The vault is buried in permafrost and is supposed to stay frozen for at least 200 years, even if the power were to go out. But officials are worried and now they are watching the seed vault 24 hours a day.
The vault is supposed to be unlocked only for deposits, which happen three or four times a year. But now workers are trying to waterproof the tunnel leading in and create ways to channel water and melting permafrost away from the structure.
If the vault fails, there’s no backup. Loss of the collection would be irreplaceable.