The seed vault stores several tens of thousands variants of important food plants such as beans, wheat and rice.

Each country or institution owns their own deposits, but if an international time of crisis should occur the seed samples can be made available to all. Gene banks worldwide send duplicates of their seeds to Svalbard. Each of the three halls can accommodate storage of up to 1,5 million seed samples. The vault is safely placed close to 130 meter above sea level and are constructed to withstand earth quakes up to 10 on the Richter’s scale. The vaults are placed east of the entrance of Mine 3. The vault, which is approximately 1000 square meters big, contains three separate rock vaults situated approximately 120 meters into the mountain, at the base of the mountain Platåberget (the plateau mountain). Close to 1 million seed samples stored in the mountain The 10-year anniversary of Svalbard Global Seed Vault was celebrated in February 2018 with the «Seed Vault Summit», with attending depositors and partners from all over the world. The idea of creating a big, international seed storage was not new, already in 1984 a secure seed storage for Nordic seeds was established in Mine 3. Svalbard Global Seed Vault was opened in February 2008 by the Norwegian government. If needed the seeds will be thawed and they will again be active. The freezing temperatures stops the seeds from developing, delay seed aging and makes it possible to store seeds for many years. The three rock vaults in the mountain base maintains a natural low temperature of 3 – 6 degrees Celsius below zero, but the vaults are cooled down further to 18 degrees Celsius below zero by a local power plant. In addition, Longyearbyen offers a stable political and geological location and well-established infrastructure – the seed storage is located only 1 kilometer from the local Svalbard airport. The seed vault was established so that gene banks worldwide could store duplicate samples of their seeds, and by this ensure that food crop varieties are not lost in local or global crises like war, terrorism or natural catastrophes.īy storing the seeds in a location with permafrost you ensure that the seeds will stay frozen, even if a power cut should occur. Make sure to book accommodation in Longyearbyen in advance! Book here. Longyearbyen in a nutshell - sightseeing with the local expert - Svalbard Buss og Taxi offers a 2 hour long sightseeing trip in Longyearbyen and its surroundings twice a day, where a stop outside the seed vault entrance also is included. Seed to Summit: From the days of coal mining to The Global Seed Vault - Svalbard Wildlife Expeditions offers a 4 hour trek up to the mountain Blomsterdalshøgda and down passing the seed vault entrance. The Global Seed Vault is not open for visitors, but you can join organized trips with guides that will take you close to the entrance. The world’s largest secure seed storage can be found in the permafrost close to Longyearbyen.

Norway doomsday vault