Doomsday Seed Vault
Star Champions|April 2017

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
Doomsday Seed Vault

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.

This story is from the April 2017 edition of Star Champions.

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This story is from the April 2017 edition of Star Champions.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

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