Last week we posted news about the Doomsday Vault in Svalbard. The facility took in 50,000 new seeds for safe storage in the event of a catastrophe on Earth. Here is a fascinating video tour of the vault in the Arctic and how it all works! Enjoy!
In celebration of International Polar Bear Day, Natural Habitat Adventures and Lindblad Expeditions have come up with this fun polar bear quiz for you to test your knowledge of the King of the Arctic, the magnificent polar bear.
Click this link to take the quiz: https://nathab.com/features/polar-bear-trivia-quiz/
Resting polar bear waiting for the ice to return on the Hudson Bay., Katie de Meulles photo.
International Polar Bear Day directs our focus to the magnificent polar bear and the pristine Arctic. The urgency to raise global awareness of the threats facing the region and polar bears as well as the other wildlife of the north is upon us. If we all band together and stay strong we can protect the wild land and creatures that make the Arctic the last frontier of nature.
Take the quiz below to find out how much you know about polar bears, then share your results with your friends and family on social media!
The “Arctic Doomsday” seed vault just took in a hefty deposit of some of the world’s most varied and treasured plant seeds to store in case of a world catastrophe.
Arctic “doomsday” seed vault in Svalbard. @christophorus photo
The recent deposit to the Global Seed Vault consisted of 50,000 seeds from several countries around the world including the US, Britain, and Pakistan.15,000 of those seeds derived from the International Center for Agricultural Research (ICARDA), restoring some of the seeds they borrowed three years ago. The vault has been the go – to storage facility as ICARDA’s other facility is inaccessible in Aleppo, Syria due to sustained conflict. The organization, which strives to improve agricultural production in dry zones such as the Middle East and Africa, borrowed potato, rice, barley, lentil, wheat and sorghum seeds previously and has since relocated its operations to Morocco and Lebanon.
“Together, the nations that have deposited their seed collections account for over a quarter of the world’s population,” Marie Haga, Executive Director of Crop Trust, the organization behind the vault, said in a statement.
The vault, located on the remote Arctic isle of Spitsbergen is buried 425 feet inside a mountain and covered with snow. The consistent cool temperatures from permafrost levels and low seismic activity are crucial factors in its location and ability to sustain seeds for hundreds of years.
Schematic of the Doomsday Vault in Spitsbergen.
This short video explains very succinctly how northern lights are formed. Hopefully this gives everyone a basic understanding of what is behind those amazing aurora borealis spectacles that glimmer across the northern skies above Churchill and other parts of the Earth. Enjoy!
These scintillating northern lights photos taken by Natural Habitat Adventures guide Eddy Savage were the first two he took of the 2017 northern lights season. What a widespread display of aurora borealis highlighted by cloud cover. Great shots! Churchill was buried in a huge snowstorm yesterday so it might take a couple of days for clearer skies to reveal the magical northern lights again. Stay tuned for the next incredible images from the north.
Northern lights over Churchill will cloud cover. Eddy Savage photo.
Amazing northern lights over Churchill. Eddy Savage photo.
