![]() Svalbard was thought to be the perfect place to preserve and store seeds because it is a polar desert-cold and dry, with little snow and not much rain. Twenty years ago, this trench might have been sufficient. “I think that's quite a good comparison.” But now, on its tenth anniversary, the initiative is confronting one of the very forces it is meant to protect against: global warming.Ī small drainage ditch in front of the entrance diverts rainwater streaming down the cold rock of the mountain. “People call the vault a Noah’s Ark for seeds,” says Asdal, a biologist and agronomist. The storage vault-in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago 800 miles above the Arctic Circle-was designed to ensure that nature’s vast array of genes is not lost.Īt the entrance tunnel to the warehouse, the wind is drowned out by the roar of a cooling system that deepens the freeze in the space to minus 18☌ (0☏)-a temperature ensuring that seed samples stay viable in the event of a global cataclysm. Today the wide range of plants that humans have relied on throughout history is threatened by the clones of modern industrial agriculture, new diseases, and climate change. “The main reason we have civilization is that humans developed ways of using seeds,” says Asdal, the operations and management coordinator of the facility, as he peers over the steering wheel through the haze. This is a fantastic time of year to visit Svalbard if you’d like to go on some fun excursions like dog sledding, snowmobiling or a cruise.Longyearbyen, SvalbardThe windshield wipers on the SUV work overtime as Åsmund Asdal zigzags up the fog-covered mountain to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. In the spring (between March-May), the sun comes back out and the temperature gets milder. In fact, Svalbard is the only place on earth where you can see the northern lights during the daytime. The dark gives visitors an excellent chance to see the beautiful aurora borealis dancing across the sky. Lasting from November to January, this is known as the “Polar Night”. In fact, there is a 2,5 month period in which Svalbard is pitch dark both day and night. At this time of year, Svalbard is cold and dark. In the winter (October-February), you’ll experience the cold climate of the arctic. ![]() Summer in Svalbard is a truly magical time of year, but there won’t be snow on the ground – so if you’d like to explore the arctic landscape, winter may be a better time for you to visit Svalbard. Visiting Svalbard during summer is perfect for those interested in walks, mountain hikes, kayaking and much more. This is also the time period in which the midnight sun comes out, so a lot of people want to visit during the summer months in order to see this stunning natural phenomenon. In the summer (from around May-September), you’ll find fairly warm temperatures for this arctic playground. The climate is cold, and the changing seasons will have a big impact on the activities you can take on during your trip. Svalbard can be visited all year round, but you should plan your visit carefully to ensure you go at the right time for you. Even if the power goes out, the seeds it holds will stay frozen for 200 years due to the fact that the facility is set deep within a mountain of thick rock and buried in permafrost. Known by some as “the doomsday vault”, the facility was designed with longevity in mind. You can read more about this important project here. The Global Seed Vault was established and funded by the Norwegian government, but every nation on earth has a vested interest in preserving the vault. It has the capacity to store 4.5 million varieties of crops, and new samples are continually added. Today, the Vault stores more than 1,000,000 seed samples, originating from almost every country in the world. The Vault represents an insurance policy for the world’s food supply, ensuring that future generations may be better able to face the issues of climate change and population growth. The Vault has been termed “the most important room in the world” due to the purpose it serves as a hugely important resource for the future of mankind. The Vault ensures that in a worst-case scenario, the agricultural advancement human beings have made for thousands of years will survive. It’s meant as a backup, protecting the world’s food supply against possible loss of seeds in genebanks due to mismanagement or disasters. The Vault is a seed storage facility that has been built to provide long-term storage of seed duplicates that are conserved in genebanks around the globe. This security facility stores seeds from all across the world – in fact, it is the largest collection of crop diversity in the world. Nestled deep within a mountain on Spitsbergen, a remote island in the Svalbard archipelago, you’ll find the Global Seed Vault.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |