![]() The appearance changes with the time of day as well as the season. ![]() Image courtesy of GlamoxĬombined with refractive elements such as mirrors and prisms, the triangles at the entrance catch and reflect light and sunlight. The artwork makes the building more visible from far off both day and night, using highly reflective stainless steel triangles of various sizes. The roof of the Vault is conceived as an artwork called "Perpetual Repercussion", designed by Dyveke Sanne. Image © Mari Tefre, courtesy of Global Crop Diversity TrustĬovering a total of 1000 square-metre area, the vault is situated in permafrost, at a constant 3-4 degrees Celsius below zero and the interior temperature of the Vault should remain at -18✬ for optimal storage of the seeds, which are stored and sealed in custom made three-ply foil packages. The new sloping tunnel will be arranged upward to take water away from the vault.ĭetailed view of the roof. It seems that the possible option for the Vault will be a replacement of its access tunnel because the Vault's current tunnel slopes down towards its main door, carrying water towards the seeds. "A group will investigate potential solutions to counter the increased water volumes resulting from a wetter and warmer climate on Svalbard." "The background to the technical improvements is that the permafrost has not established itself as planned," said a government statement. The main entrance of the structure presents a narrow opening - leads to a tunnel and continues deep into the permafrost and to the three underground chambers for storage of the actual seeds. The vault, designed by Peter W Søderman MNAL of Barlindhaug Consult, marks the Arctic region with its concrete prow. The total construction cost of the Vault is $9M. To provide an infinity physical protection, the Vault will get major technical improvements, which costs $4.4M in total. But, recently, the Vault endangers due to the harsh climate conditions suffered from a water leak from its access tunnel. The Vault already consists of the most diverse collection of food crop seeds in the world. The structure, conceived as the world’s unique crop genetic material, houses several seeds inside ranging from unique varieties of major African and Asian food staples such as maize, rice, wheat, cowpea, and sorghum to European and South American varieties of eggplant, lettuce, barley, and potato.Įntrance of the Vault. As of October 1, 2014, 69,312 accessions of seed have been sent to Svalbard with another 19,000 pending.The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, known as the world's largest secure seed storage, is now prepared to get a major upgrade to resist against external hazards and climate change, has been announced by the Norwegian Government. Located in the permafrost, 1300 kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle, the Global Seed Vault was opened by the Norwegian Government in February 2008 and the Vault currently holds more than 930,000 samples, originating from almost every country in the world. Over 11,000 NPGS samples were included in the initial shipments of seeds from all over the world (pictured above). The historic opening of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was celebrated 26 February 2008. The worldwide effort to preserve seeds is consistent with the philosophy that genetic resources are global assets. Participation in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault endeavor gave the United States a visible presence in the worldwide effort to safeguard the genetic diversity that underpins our food supply. through NPGS's field sites and base collection at NCGRP. Seed of crops important for food and agriculture will be safely stored for hundreds to thousands of years, protected from global or regional catastrophes.ĭuplicate storage to ensure backed up plant collections is accomplished within the U.S. The vault consists of three large concrete chambers that collectively have the capacity to hold 3.5 million seed samples. Constructing the vault required drilling a 390 feet tunnel into permafrost on the side of a mountain on Spitsbergen Island. ![]() This vault is located about half way between the North Pole and the coast of Norway, near the town of Longyearbyen (population 1900), in the remote arctic island archipelago of Svalbard. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault represents a global effort to safeguard plant genetic resources for future generations.
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