THE doomsday vault that is supposed to protect the world’s most valuable seeds against any kind of disaster has sprung a leak.
The Norwegian government is altering the entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault after unusually heavy rain and melting permafrost entered the entrance tunnel and froze on the floor. The water didn’t get near the seed storage areas deep within the mountainside, but the alterations will ensure the entrance is more secure. The measures include building waterproof walls, digging drainage ditches and moving a power transformer whose heat might be helping to melt permafrost.
The vault is located on an island in the Svalbard archipelago, far to the north of Norway. It is less than a decade old, but has already proved useful, for example in providing seeds to drylands researchers unable to access a seed storage facility in war-torn Aleppo, Syria.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Doomsday vault not watertight”
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