Global warming threatens world's most precious site

In Svalbard, an archipelago between Norway and the North Pole, the global seed bank that keeps seeds from all the world's food crops has been partially flooded.

SGSV (Svalbard Global Seed Vault) the world seed reserve, was dug in the side of a mountain, more than 120 meters deep. A 100 meters long corridor leads to 3 rooms totaling nearly 1500 m³ of storage volume.

Approximately 900,000 seed samples from the world's major food crops are stored at -18°C. The site is surrounded by permanently frozen ground, the permafrost. But in recent years temperatures have risen by 7°C in the area and have caused a partial melting of the permafrost which caused a flooding of the entrance hall.

To cope with this problem, Norwegian authorities will strengthen the structure. Construction of new waterproof walls inside the entrance hall, construction of ditches outside to divert water. Electrical equipment, source of heat inside the halls will be removed and the number of visitors will be further reduced inside the site.

Source: novethic.fr, china.org.cn, sciencepost.fr