Posted on 02/08/2007 5:15:21 PM PST by mfnorman
An Arctic "doomsday vault" aimed at providing mankind with food in case of a global catastrophe will be designed to sustain the effects of climate change, the project's builders said as they unveiled the architectural plans.
The top-security repository, carved into the permafrost of a mountain in the remote Svalbard archipelago near the North Pole, will preserve some three million batches of seeds from all known varieties of the planet's crops.
The hope is that the vault will make it possible to re-establish crops obliterated by major disasters.
"We have taken into consideration the (outside) temperature rising and have located the facility so far inside the rock that it will be in permafrost and won't be affected" by the outside temperature, Magnus Bredeli Tveiten, project manager at Norway's Directorate of Public Construction and Property, told AFP.
Construction on the seed bank, also dubbed the "Noah's Ark of food", will begin in March.
The seed samples, such as wheat and potatoes, will be stored in two chambers located deep inside a mountain, accessed by a 120-meter (395-foot) tunnel. The tunnel and vaults will be excavated by boring and blasting techniques and the rock walls sprayed with concrete.
The seeds will be maintained at a temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius (minus 0.4 Fahrenheit).
The vault is situated about 130 meters (426 feet) above current sea level. It would not flood if Greenland's ice sheet melts, which some estimate would increase sea levels by seven meters (23 feet).
It is also expected to be safe if the ices of Antarctica completely melt, which experts say could increase sea levels by 61 meters (200 feet).
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I'll believe in global warming when they can accurately forecast the weather with 100% certainty, 30 days in advance. Bunch of nut cases!
This is kinda funny. The folks that claim to fear that all the ice will melt are protecting their seeds in an icecap.
Ok, but when there is no 'global catastrophe' can we have a giant food fight?
Sort of moronic. How are starving people supposed to make it to the North Pole to dig out the goodies?
This is a bit screwball but not harmful. There are other disasters that could make this a good idea.
But won't global warming thaw the permafrost? If it's warm enough to melt the ice caps.... well....
OK... They've got the side dishes taken care of; but what about the real food? WHERE'S THE BEEF??
Aren't they worried about disturbing Santa when they're constructing this vault?
Something tells me they won't sub the job out to Haliburton.
the national geographic channel is presently showing a program about how easy it would be for the earth to fall into a long period of cooling due to a volcano, among other reasons ... these global warming people are hacks
Who the heck is going looking for seeds in the Arctic
in the middle of a world-wide catastorphe unlike anything
known before? Polar equipped farmers with an Ice Breaker?
***The top-security repository, carved into the permafrost of a mountain in the remote Svalbard archipelago near the North Pole,***
And just who is footing the bill for this?
-PJ
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