The Svalbard Global Seed Vault
The seed vault, the world's largest, is a repository currently protecting 750,000 varieties of crops from around the world, as well as related wild varieties, to preserve as much of the genetic diversity of crops as possible. It has the capacity to protect 2.25 billion seeds (Handwerk). Many seeds are planted out approximately every century, so that viable seeds are always stored (Muir). It is hoped that the diversity stored within the Vault will provide the genetic material needed by scientists to breed or engineer new varieties of crops should the ones currently being used be decimated by disease (as in the Irish Potato Famine) or become unsuited to the Earth's climate as global warming changes climates and weather patterns. In the event of a global catastrophe that destroys civilization as we know it, scientists hope that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault could provide the seeds that any survivors might need to restart agriculture and civilization (Handwerk).
Seeds in Svalbard
Cross Section of the Vault
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is built into the permafrost of a sandstone mountain on Spitsbergen, a tiny Norwegian island about 700 miles from the North Pole (Siebert), and is designed to withstand anything from an earthquake to nuclear war or an asteroid strike. The vault, and the precious seeds it contains, are also protected by fencing, guards, and steel airlock doors (Tepper). While the vault does have an electric cooling system, the permafrost will keep the seeds cool in the event of a temporary or permanent power outage (Handwerk) while its location 400 feet above sea level will keep it dry, even if the polar ice caps melt entirely (Siebert).
The Diminishing Seed Pool