The cellar contains anti-apocalyptic seeds flooded by melting ice

The seed bunker that saves the world in the apocalypse is facing the risk of falling before the flood even though the design is extremely solid.

The Global Seed Vault , created to preserve world agriculture in the event of the apocalypse, was melted by ice melt due to the melting of the permafrost in the Arctic. The impact of climate change, RT on May 21 reported.

The seed tunnel is located on the island of Spitsbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago in Norway, coming into operation almost a decade ago. The purpose of the tunnel construction is to withstand a global disaster. However, the unusually warm winter temperature this year resulted in an unprecedented amount of melting ice coming down the entrance to the tunnel, according to the Guardian.

Although the floodwaters have not reached the seed store, which means that the seeds are safe, the soaking-in process makes experts worried about the effects of climate change on the long-term survival of the tunnel. The facility is designed to be self-sustaining without human intervention, but now the tunnel is being monitored 24/7, according to the authorities.

Global Seed Vault seed tunnel.(Photo: AFP).

"In the construction plan, we never thought about the melting of the permafrost and not anticipating such extreme weather . " Hege Njaa Aschim, Norwegian government spokesman, shared. "A lot of water flows into the head of the tunnel and freezes, so when you go into it feels like stepping on a glacier."

Just a few months ago, the anti-apocalyptic seed tunnel expanded its collection, with 50,000 seed samples collected from around the world for safe storage until needed. The cellar currently contains 930,000 seed samples but can store up to 4.5 million samples over hundreds of years. Each sample consists of an average of 500 seeds, so the establishment can accommodate up to 2.25 billion seeds.

On May 20, the Norwegian government confirmed a plan to strengthen the stability of the Svalbard global seed tunnel from now until 2018. According to Aschim, the Norwegian government believes the seed and cellar will be never flooded, but they did not want to flood the water even at the entrance and were trying to minimize the risk.

The Norwegian seed tunnel improvement plan focuses on removing the heat source at the entrance to the tunnel and building additional sluice gates on the slopes to prevent melting of ice water around the entrance. Waterproofing walls are also built in the tunnel to enhance storage protection at the end.

Statsbygg, a government agency, is conducting a research and development project, working with meteorologists to monitor permafrost in Svalbard. The agency is also investigating the possibility of creating a new tunnel to improve safety in the long term.