In here, the seeds are stored in vacuum-packed silver packets and test tubes in large boxes that are neatly stacked on floor-to-ceiling shelves.Īs described by the Guardian, it was this wide concrete tunnel that was breached: There are three vaults leading off from the chamber, but only one is currently in use, and its door is covered in a thick layer of ice, hinting at the subzero temperatures inside. At the end of this corridor is a chamber, an added layer of security to protect the vaults containing the seeds.
Through one door is a wide concrete tunnel illuminated by strip lighting leading 430 ft. The entrance leads to a small tunnel-like room filled with the loud whirring noise of electricity and cooling systems required to keep the temperature within the vault consistent. While the access tunnel was flooded, there are a number of other protective barriers between that tunnel and the actual vault, as described in a profile of the facility from April 2017: Globally, the Seed Vault is, and will continue to be, the safest backup of crop diversity. The Royal Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Statsbygg, Norway, is taking appropriate measures to ensure the protection of the Seed Vault and improve the construction to prevent future incidents. The Royal Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Norway, the Crop Trust, and NordGen would like to assure seed depositors and the public that the seeds are completely safe and no damage has been done to the facility. It has been reported that the Seed Vault has seen water intrusion due to melting permafrost. This spin is not entirely accurate, however, as the vault itself was never threatened.Ĭrop Trust clarified this in a statement:
Thanks, Global Warming", leaving the impression that the supposedly failsafe vault had been ruined by one of the very forces it sought to protect against - and after less than a decade of use. This story was propagated across social media with irresistibly shareable headlines like: "The Arctic Doomsday Seed Vault Flooded. On, Crop Trust reported that technical issues had resulted in flooding to the facility’s access tunnel:Īfter 9 years of operation, Svalbard Global Seed Vault is facing technical improvements in connection with water intrusion in the outer part of the access tunnel because the permafrost has not established itself as projected.
It will secure, for centuries, millions of seeds representing every important crop variety available in the world today. The Vault is the ultimate insurance policy for the world’s food supply, offering options for future generations to overcome the challenges of climate change and population growth.
Permafrost and thick rock ensure that the seed samples will remain frozen even without power. The vault itself was never breached, and the seeds were never threatened.īuilt deep into the interior of a remote arctic island in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago quietly lies what the press has dubbed the "Doomsday Vault".įirst opened in February 2007 and run by the Norwegian Government, the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre, and the nonprofit Crop Trust, its goal is to maintain a stockpile of seeds as a bulwark against extinctions and potential future agricultural calamities:
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