Doomsday Seed Vault

In an isolated Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Svalbard Archipelago is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the world’s largest Seed Security Storage. Built in 2008, the Seed Vault lies underground about 120 meters inside a sandstone mountain, 620 miles away from the North Pole. Spitsbergen was chosen as the most suitable location because it had low seismic activities and its permafrost could help preserve the seeds.

- Gayathri Krishnan

The vault has a sub-zero temperature that ensures that seeds can be safe from damage for many years. Seeds are dried and kept in special three-ply foil packets in a (– 18 degree c) vault that has air lock doors and protection chambers to keep away erosion and moisture. The Vault has a capacity to store 4.5 million seeds.

Gene banks of countries all over the world make their contributions to the vault. Each country gets its own space to store its seeds.