Doomsday vault svalbard series#

Most of the coal mines have now closed and the economy is gradually shifting towards tourism, education and research. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is located on the island of Spitsbergen, the largest in the Svalbard archipelago, which surprisingly was not chosen for its stark. Over time it turned into the coal deposits that in the 20th century brought miners from Norway, Russia, and the US. This vegetation was then covered in mud and sand and submerged under the sea. A swampy area, it was covered with the precursors to modern ferns, which were much larger than they are today, reaching 10-30 metres in height. In the frigid Norwegian Arctic, a gray wedge. 360 million years ago it was actually in the tropics North of the equator. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is located in the Norwegian Arctic on the remote island of Spitsbergen.

Doomsday vault svalbard series#

The coal was transported to the port via a series of aerial tramways some of which remain today, though they are no longer operational.Ĭoal is a reminder that Svalbard was not always an Arctic ice world. The hills around town are rich in coal deposits that have been mined for over 100 years. …how did this cold, remote, ice-covered archipelago come to be inhabited? Also from his trip: a primer on The Northernmost Town on Earth (Svalbard in 4K), filmed in 4K by drone. PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL NICKLEN, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. In theory, the vault is “ disaster-proof.”ĭerek Muller of Veritasium got a rare tour of the facilities when he traveled to Svalbard earlier this year. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway aims to preserve as many different varieties of crop species as possible before they disappear. A gene bank built to protect the biodiversity of food crops, its design takes advantage of the island’s permafrost, thick rock, low humidity, and above sea level location. Svalbard’s mysterious ‘doomsday’ seed vault offers first glimpse inside with virtual tour Buried in Arctic permafrost, the collection safeguards the world’s crop species and is a magnet for. Another option is to join the Seed to Summit trek, which is a 4 hour hiking trip. Svalbard is a group of islands nearly a thousand kilometres north of mainland. This 2 hour trip takes you around the city, and includes a stop outside the entrance to Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The Vault is dug into a mountainside near the village of Longyearbyen, Svalbard. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, on an island off Norways northern coast, where seeds for more than 1.14m varieties of crops from around the world are being held to prevent human extinction. In the northernmost town on Earth, on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault protects around 865,000 seed samples from almost every country on our planet (including North Korea). One of the easiest and most popular ways to visit Svalbard Global Seed Vault is to join the tour called Longyearbyen in a nutshell.