Svalbard Seed Vault · A Million Seeds Stored Inside a Mountain

In the mountain outside Longyearbyen a tunnel is cut more than a hundred metres into the permafrost, ending in three chambers that hold over a million samples of crop seed from countries around the world. The temperature is held automatically at minus eighteen degrees, and can be maintained for a long time even without power.

This “doomsday vault” stores a backup for humanity. The entrance to one nearby global seed vault was penetrated by freezing rain and was afterwards rebuilt and sealed more tightly.

Longyearbyen has a rule: no cats are allowed in the town, and you take a gun when you go out.

Historical Mysteries / Svalbard · Norway / 2008