Photo source: AP Photo / John McConnico
This base area holds extremely valuable seeds all over the world and, recently, because of the Syrian civil war, this underground tunnel became the first humanitarian aid tunnel. This global seed tunnel is strictly confidential, but you can find out a little bit about it below.
According to The Crop Trust, the group responsible for seed banking systems globally, Svalbard is near the North Pole of the world and still has fixed flights.Photo source: Google Earth / Tech Insider
This underground tunnel is 121.92 meters (400ft) above sea level and the air here has very low humidity.
Photo source: Avatar_023 / Shutterstock
Due to being buried in permafrost, this cellar could freeze within 200 years, even when the power is no longer available.
Photo source: AP Photo / David Keyton.Reuters
The base contains seeds from more than 60 organizations in most parts of the world, collecting more than 1500 varieties from world gene banks and originating from many countries. The seeds sent here to prevent any uncertainties can be recreated.
A technical staff at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), sample seed packages.Photo source: Photo / Eduardo Verdugo
Svalbard Underground Tunnel is a safe, reliable center for all seed banks
those-seed-banks.jpg Image source: Shutterstock / Incredible Arctic
Technicians are analyzing and selecting wild corn seeds originating in the Mexican suburbs
Photo source: AP Photo / Eduardo Verdugo
In this way, the diverse genetics of crops worldwide are kept safe.
Robert Zeigler - General Director of the Philippine Institute - based on the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) showed rice grain samples for Svalbard.Photo source: REUTERS / Darren Whiteside
The seeds sent here will be stored in large boxes and scanned with X-rays to ensure there is nothing else inside the seed.
Photo source: REUTERS / Heiko Junge / NTB Scanpix
The roof and the outer part of the cellar here are more mysterious than ever with a light of fanciful light with quartz art full of art.
Photo source: AP Photo / John McConnico
Underground basement is opened 3-4 times a year to send seeds
Photo source: Larsen / ScanpixNorway / Pool
The global seed tunnel has five tightly encrypted security doors
Photo source: AP Photo / John McConnico
In addition, The Crop Trust said that the number of white bears on the island was even higher than that of humans, so it was an equally beneficial "security class" .
Photo source: REUTERS / Bob Strong
Seeds are stored in underground vaults at -18 degrees Celsius, cold enough to keep them from being damaged, even after thousands of years for certain types.
The inner door from the main chamber enters one of the three rooms of the basement.
Photo source: AP Photo / John McConnico
Seeds are transferred to the main room of the cellar with a trolley
Photo source: AP Photo / John McConnico
Until now, there have been more than 860,000 samples in the seed store since it was opened in 2008, each containing up to 500 seeds.
Photo source: AP Photo / David Keyton
Fortunately, this underground cellar has enough space for 3 main rooms that can store up to 4.5 million samples, equivalent to more than 2 billion seeds.
Photo source: AP Photo / John McConnico
The seeds in the cellar are preserved in foil and sealed jars to avoid external factors affecting the grain.
Photo source: Photo / Eduardo Verdugo
In 2015, the ICARDA seed bank in Syria for the first time pulled samples from the tunnel to restore the war-torn seed bank.
Photo source: AP Photo / David Keyton
This suggests that this cellar was able to serve its proper function, but hoped there would be no need to withdraw any more samples in the future. " Illustrate why we built it, " Cary Fowler told colleague Lydia Ramsey
Photo source: AP Photo / John McConnico