Originally published on March 3, 2014
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Some 20,000 new seed samples were added to the collection held by the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway late last month.
The new additions included Japanese barley, Brazilian beans, wild potatoes and wild sweet potatoes from Peru, and red okra seeds from the United States.
Opened in 2008, the seed bank is located in the remote archipelago of Svalbard, which is about 1,300 metres away from the North Pole. Only 2,000 people live in the closest town.
Dubbed "the Doomsday seed vault", the facility is carved into the permafrost of a mountain at about 130 metres above sea level, an attitude that protects the vault from climate change. It will remain dry even if the surrounding ice caps melt.
The seed bank can act as a beacon, as it is fitted with light installations. The roof and entrance are paved with highly reflective steel, mirrors and prisms. In summer months, the polar lights are reflected; optic cables radiate turquoise and white lights during winter.
Connected to the entrance with a 93.3 metre-long tunnel, the Svalbard Global Seed Bank consists of three vaults.The temperature is maintained at minus 18 degrees Celsius in the storage area.
Five hundred seeds of each variety are placed in special four-play packages, which are vacuum and heat-sealed. The envelopes are then placed inside black boxes, which are put on shelves inside each vault.
About 820,000 plant seed samples from around the world are now deposited in the seed bank.
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